


I'm Only Human

by PurpleCupcakes



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Derek and Stiles are Mates, Domestic Violence, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mpreg, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-23
Updated: 2015-05-20
Packaged: 2018-01-26 04:40:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1675010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleCupcakes/pseuds/PurpleCupcakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek was coming up on his eighth minute of his ten-minute break when he smelled it; the IT that he’d been searching for his whole life. His mate. Derek shot off of the ground and started searching for the source of that mouth-watering scent when another smell made him freeze. Surrounding the scent of his mate was the very distinct metallic scent of blood. A lot of blood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Bleed When I Fall Down

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic ever so please be kind! Please? Pretty please?!!!
> 
> Anyway, this story was inspired by the chorus of the song "Human" by Christina Perri, but it's really only the beginning that has anything to do with the song. Then we go off in a whole new, hopefully good, direction! We start with some domestic violence and a hospital visit right off the bat so please be careful if that is triggering for you. If it's just the violence that's a problem, skip ahead to the little star divider and you'll be past it.
> 
> I don't plan on explaining every detail of this world in the notes or right away in the story either, it'll kind of be a learn as you go thing, but I will say that werewolves are known in this world and the Hale fire did occur but it happened differently than in the show. Hopefully any confusing parts will be cleared up eventually!
> 
> Sorry if this is terrible! I enjoy writing it either way :) Enjoy! (MTV owns everything)

It happened the way it always does. Stiles and his boyfriend Kyle will be sitting on the couch together watching tv or Stiles will be cooking dinner while Kyle reads the newspaper at the kitchen table when Kyle asks a quiet question, which leads to yelling, which leads to Stiles in pain. This time, they were putting away groceries having just returned from shopping. Stiles had just reached to the top shelf of the pantry to put the Cheerios away when Kyle asked, "So, who was that guy you were talking to?"

Stiles turned around with the Cheerios still in his hand and blinked at Kyle in confusion. "What?"

"You know," Kyle said. "That guy you were shamelessly flirting with. How many times have you fucked him?"

Stiles put the Cheerios on the counter and slowly walked towards Kyle with his hands out in front of him, like he's trying to calm a spooked animal. "Kyle, what are you talking about? I haven't been with anyone but you since we met. You know that babe."

"You're such a lying little WHORE!" Kyle screamed and then flipped their small kitchen table over. He stalked toward Stiles as he said, "I saw the way you looked at him, the way you leaned towards him with your 'fuck me' eyes!"

Stiles backed away until his back was against the refrigerator and stuttered out, "I-I don't know w-what you're talking about! I s-swear babe! I didn't f-fuck anyone else! I only want you." Kyle crowded Stiles against the refrigerator and slammed his hand next to Stiles' head. Stiles flinched and said, "Please babe, please don't hurt me. I didn't do anything with anyone, I swear."

Kyle screamed in Stiles' face, "I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! I KNOW YOU WANTED HIM! YOU'RE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR SOMEONE BETTER THAN ME!" Then he put his lips to Stiles' ear and whispered, "Now I'm going to have to punish you until you remember where you belong." Stiles shuttered with a small whimper and waited for the pain to start. Kyle grabbed his arm hard and threw him across the kitchen onto the floor. he walked to Stiles shaking frame while he said, "I wish you wouldn't make me do this, sweetheart. I don't like hurting you, but you've got to learn."

Stiles stood up and looked at Kyle with pleading eyes. "You don't have to do this baby. I know I belong with you and I'll never look at another guy again. I promise! Please..." Kyle punched Stiles in the face and he hit the floor. Blood dribbled from his lip and his jaw ached as he tried to back away from Kyle, but he just came after him, landing kicks to various parts of Stiles' body. Stiles flipped over and tried crawling away when Kyle aimed a particularly hard kick at his abdomen. Stiles cried out in pain as he felt and heard his ribs break. Tears streamed down Stiles' face as he begged Kyle to stop.

Kyle sighed as he picked up a large knife from their knife black and turned back to Stiles. "I wish I could stop, sweetheart. You know I love you. Maybe after this time, you won't make me hurt you anymore. Maybe you'll remember who you belong to and you won't need to be punished.

Stiles' eyes widened when he saw Kyle pick up the knife. _He wouldn't. He wouldn't do that to me. He loves me_ , he thought. Then Kyle turned back to Stiles and started walking forward while he talked and Stiles knew, he finally knew that Kyle would be the end of him if didn't get away. Kyle would kill him. The knife in Kyle's hand looked like some pretty good evidence that it might even be tonight. Stiles stumbled to his feet and tried to run, but the pain from his broken ribs and the numerous cuts and bruises he had received made him slow. And Kyle was not. He was on Stiles so fast and he saw the knife flash in the light before Kyle plunged it into Stiles' stomach. Stiles stared dumbly down at it for a moment, watched his red blood begin to drip down his front. Kyle pulled the knife out and Stiles grunted and watched the blood come faster. Kyle stepped back and laughed darkly as he said, "Maybe now you won't forget. Every time you see the scar left by this knife you'll remember that you belong to me and only me."

Stiles finally pressed a hand tightly to his wound to stop the bleeding. It hurt more than he imagined possible. He turned to face Kyle with wide eyes as Kyle went to the sink to wash the knife while he babbled on about how Stiles had to learn and he shouldn't make him do things like this. Stiles stared at him silently as he slowly moved his hand toward the large frying pan that was sitting on their drying rack. He gripped the handle tightly and then swung it towards Kyle's head. The pan connected and Kyle fell to the floor with a groan. Stiles knew he didn't have long before Kyle would be back on his feet and after Stiles.

He stumbled towards the apartment door and, thankfully, found his wallet and keys on the table by the door where he had dropped them earlier. He somehow made it down the two flights of stairs and out to his jeep without running into anyone. He pulled himself into the vehicle and sped away. The drive to the hospital was a blur as he fought to stay conscious. Finally, he saw the entrance to the emergency room and swerved his way up to the side of the doors. He stumbled out of his jeep and made it exactly three steps before collapsing right into the arms of a man dressed in blue scrubs.

******** 

Derek finished the forms he was filling out and went up to the front desk. "Hey Erica, can you file these for me so I can take my break?"

Erica had just hung up the phone and hand an exasperated look on her face as she said, "Of course. I'll take filing over assuring idiots that they can't possibly have gotten pregnant from making out with someone. I mean honestly, do these people just not have brains?"

Derek chuckled and said his thanks before he walked outside. He sighed and sat down just to the left of the doors and looked up at the night sky. It had already been a long shift and he'd only been there for tow hours. He loved his job as an ER nurse, but there were days when he wished he'd gone with an easier, slower paced job like a librarian or a postal worker. But, being a werewolf, he had heightened senses that made it easier for him to diagnose the problem with patients and he really enjoyed helping people. Plus he had awesome stamina, which allowed him to work longer shifts than the average ER nurse. He was honestly surprised that more werewolves didn't go for hospital work, maybe it was smells. The man who hired him had been extremely happy to have someone with his abilities working for their hospital, and because of that, Derek was offered a lot of flexibility with his work schedule.

Derek was coming up on his eighth minute of his ten-minute break when he smelled it; the _IT_ that he'd been searching for all his life. His mate. Derek shot off the ground and started searching for the source of that mouth-watering scent when another smell made him freeze. Surrounding the scent of his mate was the very distinct metallic scent of blood. A lot of blood. Then he saw a jeep swerving towards the ER entrance and he hurried over to it. He watched a man in his early 20's covered in blood stumble out of the jeep and Derek caught him just as he fell.

Derek panicked for a moment while he watched the lifeblood drain from his mate's body before his training kicked in. He picked up the man and ran towards the ER doors, yelling out orders for supplies and help once he was inside. Derek carefully, but quickly, laid his mate on the closest empty bed and began testing his pupils for dilation while two other nurses rushed over to assist and asked, "Do you know your name and where you are, sir?" He received a moan in response. He tried again, "sir, look at me, stay with me. What is your name?"

"Stiles," the man whispered, and then promptly passed out. _Shit_ , Derek thought. The three nurses went to work cutting Stiles out of his shirt and assessing the damage. Derek did his best to tamp down on the rising panic he felt as he kept adding new injuries to the list he was compiling in his head. His mate was so hurt, so broken. He fought a strangled whimper as he realized that it would be a miracle if his mate survived the night.


	2. I'm Feeling So Small

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (MTV owns everything)
> 
> Hello cupcakes! I'm so happy some people enjoyed the first chapter! Hopefully that enjoyment continues.
> 
> There might be some triggering stuff in one of the conversations that has to do with how domestic violence can make the recipient of said violence feel as though it's their fault (even though it isn't!), so skip over that bit if you need to. It's just in the two paragraphs after Stiles says he doesn't care that Derek is a werewolf.
> 
> Hope you enjoy! Sparkly star stickers to anyone who notices the references from Pokemon and The Office (US version) ;)
> 
> P.S.  
> All of the chapter titles are going to be lines from songs so see if you can guess them! Some, like the first chapter since I told you what inspired it, will be obvious but others might be a little harder to get ;)

Stiles was rushed off for emergency surgery once he'd been stabilized enough for the move. Derek was way past being professional by now and almost had to be restrained to be kept out of the OR. Erica rushed up to help when she heard the shouting and saw Derek struggling to get into the room. "What's going on?! Derek, you need to calm down and tell me what's happening!"

"That's my mate in there! I need to be with him! He needs me!" Derek yelled.

"Your mate?! Oh god. Ok. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to sit right here outside the OR and take deep calming breaths. Dr. Boyd is one of the best surgeons here and he's going to take care of your mate, ok? Natalie!" she yelled to a passing nurse. Erica walked over to her and gave her some instructions about Derek and a schedule in hushed tones. Derek could've easily listened to what they were saying, but he was too lost in his own mind to care.

_What if he doesn't make it? I just found him; I can't lose him already! I need to know him, to find out all of his likes and dislikes, learn about his childhood and what he wants for the future, discover what it feels like to make love to him..._

The hours passed slowly as Derek sat with Erica and worked to keep his instincts under control; instincts that told him to rush into the OR and growl at anyone who came close to Stiles while crouching over him. He was sure his eyes were flashing red, but he didn't care enough to control it just then. Dr. Boyd eventually emerged from the OR to address Derek while Stiles was taken to a recovery room.

"How is he? Is he...is he going to live?" Derek choked on the last word.

"He had a lot of injuries and he lost a lot of blood, but it looks like he'll make it. He has shallow cuts and bruises everywhere, a few deeper lacerations, two broken ribs on his left side, and a rather deep wound that looks to have come from a knife. The knife nicked his pancreas, which caused some internal bleeding, but we were able to sew up his pancreas and none of his other organs seem to have been hit. We had to give him two blood transfusions as well. He's stable now though and could wake up anytime." Dr. Boyd said and gave Derek's shoulder a sympathetic squeeze.

"Thanks, man. I just... thanks." Derek turned and saw Erica waiting for him so she could walk him to Stiles' room. Erica forced Derek to stop for some coffee before going to Stiles room because the sun was now beginning to rise and Derek had been awake all night. By the time they arrived at the correct room, Stiles was laying in the hospital bed hooked up to all kinds of machines and monitors. Derek stood in the doorway and just stared with tears in his eyes.

After a few moments, he went over to the heart monitor and turned off the sound. He didn't want to listen to the artificial sounds emitted by the machine, he wanted to listen to the precious sound of Stiles' actual heartbeat. The room had a reclining chair for family members to sleep in if they wanted to stay over night, so Derek pulled it up close to the bed and held one of Stiles' hands. He told Erica that she could go.

"Are you sure? I can stay with you."

"No, it's ok. Go home and get some rest." Erica nodded and left. Derek hated that he couldn't do anything to help Stiles, couldn't make him heal faster. What was the point of super fast healing if you couldn't use it on the people important to you?

 

********

 

Waking up was difficult for Stiles on a normal day. This time was even harder. He swam in and out of consciousness for a while, sometimes hearing things in his dreams that didn't match up with the dream itself, sometimes feeling someone gripping his hand in the dark moments. When he was finally able to pry his eyelids open, he winced at the brightness of the sunlight streaming in through a window. He panicked for a moment when he realized he didn't recognize the room he was in, but then he remembered. He remembered what Kyle did to him. The tears started falling and Stiles was helpless to stop it. He took a shuddering breath before the sobs began. But then someone was there, holding him so gently he could have been spun glass, whispering calming words, making him feel safe. He hadn't felt that safe in a long time, not since Kyle changed.

After a few minutes, the sobs stopped and the tears slowed. The stranger pulled back and sat down in the chair next to the bed. When their eyes connected for the first time, Stiles felt a shift inside of him. Suddenly, he had this urge to be near the stranger. It wasn't overwhelming, not an _oh my god I couldn't stand to be more than five feet from you_ kind of thing. More like a soft tingling along his skin that flowed towards the other man. "I'm your mate, aren't I?" he asked.

The man nodded and said, "I'm Derek. I brought you into the ER. How are you feeling?" Stiles recalled a blurry image of a man coming towards him in blue scrubs.

"A bit sore all over, but I can't feel much else. Must be on some awesome pain killers. So if I'm your mate, that means you're a werewolf, right?"

"Yes. Is that ok?" Derek asked with uneasy eyes. Stiles just looked at him with surprise for a few seconds.

"Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?"

"Some people are afraid of werewolves, or just plain don't like them."

Stiles eyes softened. "I see. Well it's not a problem for me." They just looked at each other for a few minutes before Stiles suddenly blurted out, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you're stuck with a broken mate like me." The tears started again. "If I had known that I was someone's mate, I would've done things differently. I never would have talked to him. I never would have started seeing him. I never would have ended up here!" By the end of his little speech, he had worked himself into a panic attack. Derek recognized this and immediately began working with Stiles to regulate his breathing and calm down. Sometimes it really paid to have medical training.

Once Stiles had calmed down, Derek said, "Stiles, you have _nothing_ to be sorry for. This was not your fault. No matter what he told you or how he made you feel, it was all him. I've seen more domestic violence injuries than I can count and I can guarantee you that any purposely caused injury by your partner, especially those that are bad enough to require medical attention, is _not_ the hurt person's fault. Do you understand?"

Stiles nodded with tears in his eyes again. Derek seemed so different from Kyle already, since Kyle always told Stiles that it  _was_ his fault when the beatings happened. He hoped Derek really was different.

For the next few hours, Stiles and Derek talked and got to know each other a bit. At first, Stiles was shy. He didn't say much, instead letting Derek do most of the talking. As the day wore on, however, Stiles became more comfortable and relaxed. He was even able to laugh a few times, which he found to be a bit painful. Unfortunately, Stiles also had to deal with plenty of poking and prodding by a prickly nurse named Joy. Who knew a person with such a happy name could be such an angry person? Derek laughed every time Stiles got in trouble with the nurse for things like moving too much or trying to go to the bathroom by himself, which was _soooo_ not helping.

On the bright side, he found out that he would be discharged the next morning. Although Stiles had a minimum of six weeks recovery time for his ribs, that could be done outside of the hospital. The only reason he couldn't leave until the morning was so they could make sure he didn't start bleeding internally again. Stiles dutifully ignored the little part of his brain that was wondering what would happen when he was discharged. Obviously, he couldn't go back to the apartment he had shared with Kyle. Would he go home with Derek? They were mates, which meant that at some point they would be living together, but Stiles didn't want to assume anything and he didn't want to be a burden. So, ignoring. Because ignoring things always works.

Stiles was amazed at his luck. He had a _mate_ , which meant an automatic out for him with Kyle. But more than that, Derek seemed genuinely wonderful. He was nice, smart, funny in a sort of grumbly sarcastic way, and he was out of this world hot. Like _he could cook eggs on his skin from his hotness_ hot. Stiles was in no condition for sex, and he certainly wasn't ready for a romantic relationship, but it was nice to know that he'd have no trouble getting it up when the time came. Because the time _would_ come. He was not going to be someone who let trauma control him for the rest of his life. Stiles would do what he needed to do to heal physically and emotionally, even if that meant going to therapy for a while, and then he would move on and leave Kyle in the past. Hopefully, Derek would be there to help him.

But first, he had to deal with the storm he knew was coming. About an hour after Stiles and Derek had eaten dinner, Stiles was laughing far harder than a person with broken ribs should about a patient of Derek's who had somehow managed to burn his foot on a George Foreman grill, when Stiles heard a familiar voice say, "What's going on in here?"


	3. I'd Sure Hate To Break Down Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (MTV owns everything)
> 
> Hello cupcakes! Got another chapter for you. Big moment for Stiles today, and someone gets pushed up against a wall! Too bad it's not in a sexy time way...
> 
> I know some of you aren't going to like how this chapter goes, but please read the notes at the end of the chapter so I can explain why I did what I did. I promise there are reasons!
> 
> Enjoy :)

"What's going on in here?"

Stiles immediately stopped laughing and whipped his gaze to to the man standing in the doorway. Kyle. "What are you doing here?" Stiles asked. He hoped the shaking in his voice wasn't noticeable. Derek must have figured out who Kyle was because Stiles could here him quietly growling.

"I came to see my boyfriend in the hospital, of course. I'd be bad boyfriend if I didn't," he said with a smirk. Derek stood and started growling louder at that. He looked like he was either about to say something to Kyle or maybe throw him through a wall, but Stiles stopped him with a hand on his arm and a slight shake of his head.

Stiles needed to be the one that did the talking here. He needed to show Kyle that he was in charge of himself, Kyle didn't own him. Not anymore, anyway. He also knew that he couldn't just hide behind Derek and let him handle everything. Kyle's insane jealousy and Stiles' fear had made him completely reliant on Kyle, as sick as that may be, and he didn't want that to happen with Derek. He wanted a real partnership.

"You think I'm staying with you when you're the one who put me here? No way in hell. We're done Kyle. You've hurt me so many times, and I always forgave you and convinced myself that it was my fault and that I just had to be a better boyfriend and then you'd stop, but you won't. I'd be crazy to stay with you, because I nearly died last night. If I stay with you, I might not even make it to the hospital the next time you decide that I need to be taught a lesson." As Stiles talked he began to feel the confidence he was forcing into his voice. He'd been a victim for too long and it was time he took back control.

Kyle let out an evil laugh. "We're not done. You're _mine_. I own you, and I always will. Who else will take care of you? Who else could love you? You're nothing but a stupid carrier whore-"

Derek slammed Kyle against the wall with a hand around his throat faster than Stiles could blink. Kyle's eyes were wide with fear as Derek growled in Kyle's face, "Don't talk to him like that! The only reason your worthless ass hasn't been thrown in jail is because Stiles decided not to press charges." A fact which made Derek's insides burn, especially since Stiles also shot down Derek's idea of ripping Kyle's throat out with his teeth.

Whenever a gunshot or stabbing victim is brought into the ER, the cops are automatically called. The hospital staff had waited until Stiles was awake so that he could give his statement and press charges against his attacker if he chose to do so. Stiles had argued with both the police officer that had come to his room and Derek for 30 minutes, but they eventually had to yield to Stiles' wishes, since it was ultimately his choice.

Pressing charges against Kyle meant months, or even years, of testimonies and gathering evidence and court dates and who knows what else. Stiles wouldn't have the option of moving on, of healing, if he was stuck in that mess. He would have to constantly relive the abuse he'd suffered. To Stiles, that meant that Kyle still held power over him, and he was done with that. He just wanted to never see Kyle again and move on with his life.

"Derek. Let him go." Stiles voice was barely more than a whisper. Derek looked at Stiles to convey his frustration at having to stop choking Kyle, but did all the same.

Kyle coughed and made strangled noises for a few minutes before saying, "Who the fuck is this guy, anyway?" with bravado.

Stiles looked at Derek with soft eyes. "He's my mate."

Kyle's face went red with anger. "What?!" he hissed. "So you've been fucking him behind my back? How dare you?!"

"Kyle, I just met him today. Well, technically yesterday when he carried me into the ER, but I'm not counting that because I don't really remember much of it. I have never cheated on you, even though you've accused me of it quite a few times. You also don't own me. I do not belong to you. I'm not a piece of furniture, I'm a human being, but you haven't treated me like I am in a long time. Like I said, we're done. I want you to leave and never come near me again. If you do, I'll let Derek kill you."

"And don't think I won't. I'm a werewolf, which means I'm _very_ protective of my mate. If I ever see you again, I'll tear you apart."

Kyle was doing a poor job of hiding his terror after Derek spoke. "Fine. You can have him. I bet you'll be tired of him in a few weeks."

Derek's snarl had Kyle scrambling out of the room.

He was gone. He was actually gone. Stiles felt light in a way he hadn't felt in years. Tears of relief and pent up fear rolled down his cheeks as he laughed.

 

********

 

Derek wasn't sure how he felt. He was supremely glad that Kyle was gone. And ok, maybe he enjoyed scaring Kyle a little, or a lot. But he wasn't sure that this thing with Kyle was really over. Kyle's heartbeat had been all over the place after Derek slammed him against the wall so it was hard to tell if he had just been afraid when he said 'you can have him,' or if he was lying. Whichever the case, he decided he wouldn't worry about it now. Stiles was now in his arms, where he belonged, and Derek wouldn't let anything happen to him.

Derek and Stiles laid on the small hospital bed. Stiles was dozing and Derek was doing his best to memorize his mate's features. He was so beautiful. Chocolate brown hair that matched his eyes, the cutest nose Derek had ever seen, and soft looking lips. He couldn't be happier with who the fates had chosen to be his mate. Derek would do everything he could to see Stiles' amazing smile as often as possible.

Derek was still admiring his mates features when he realized something. "What about your stuff? You lived with him right?"

"Yeah, but I don't need any of it. Pretty much everything in the apartment was Kyle's except for my clothes, but those are replaceable. The only things that are really important to me are my jeep and a picture of me with my parents at Disney World when I was seven, which I keep in the driver-side visor. Oh crap my jeep!"

"Don't worry, it was moved to the parking garage. Your keys are in a bag with the jeans and shoes you were wearing when you came in."

"Well that's good I guess, but what am I going to do? I get released in the morning and I have no idea where I'm going to go. Or how I'll pay for this. Or pay for anything! I have no money! It was all Kyle's. He didn't want me to have a job, so I quit my job at Best Buy, which I now realize was a really stupid thing to do. I can't ask a friend for money or to stay with them because I haven't seen them in so long! Kyle hated it when I hung out with my friends, so I stopped doing that too! God, what was I thinking?! I'm going to be homeless. I'm going to have to live on the streets and beg people for change and I'll have to live on food I find in the garbage and-"

"Stiles! It's ok, calm down." Stiles had steadily been gaining volume and seemed to be going into a panic so Derek decided it was time to stop him. "You can come home with me. I'm your mate, I'm supposed to take care of you and provide for you."

"You don't have to do that Derek, we just met."

"But I want to. You have no idea how much it would mean to me if you'd come home with me. I want to take care of you and get to know you. Besides, my wolf would go crazy if someone else was taking care of you while you're hurt."

Stiles just stared at him for a few minutes. It sounded so good, but Stiles had to set some ground rules first. "I will go home with you," Derek's smile was blindingly beautiful, "but I have rules. I don't want to be completely dependent on you like I was with Kyle. I don't really mean while I'm recovering, because I know there's a lot of things I'll need help with. I mean once I'm healed. I want to get a job, I want to reconnect with my friends, I want to have my own things and my own bank account. I'm also not ready for anything romantic. I want my own room, or a couch if you only have one bedroom, and I don't want to date yet. I need to heal physically and get myself sorted out emotionally before we can start any kind of relationship beyond friends or companions."

"Sounds good to me. I would never try to control who you hang out with or tell you that you can't have a job. All I want is to make you happy. And I don't want to jump into anything romantic either. The kind of abuse you suffered leaves emotional wounds and they need time to heal before you'll be ready to be with me. I will never push you for more than you're ready to give."

Stiles was a little surprised it was that easy. He'd never just been given what he wanted when he was with Kyle. There was always a condition, or Kyle simply refused. He gave Derek a soft smile. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me. My motives aren't completely selfless, after all," he said with a wink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you are probably a bit mad at me but I decided not to have Kyle arrested for a couple of reasons:
> 
> 1) If Stiles pressed charges, he'd have to go through giving testimonies, police looking for evidence of past cases of battery, court dates, etc. It's really hard to move on if the thing you need to move on from is constantly in your face and on your mind. I didn't want that for Stiles. He's hurt enough without adding that on.
> 
> 2) I hate Kyle just as much as you guys. So don't worry lovelies, there will be a satisfyingly bloody end for him ;) If you've got a raging hard-on for the US justice system though, you're not going to like it.


	4. The Battle's Won But There's Still Poison In Our Veins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (MTV owns everything)
> 
> Hello cupcakes! Long chapter today. We get to learn about Derek's and Stiles's families and also how Stiles ended up with Kyle. So you guys can get an idea of when things happened, Stiles is 22 and Derek is 29.
> 
> Enjoy :)

Leaving the hospital was... interesting. Because broken ribs? Yeah, they fucking _hurt_. And the awesome thing about breathing is that every single time you take a breath, your ribs move. Every time you move basically anything on your upper body, the muscles around your ribs move, which of course means your ribs move. Thank _god_ they let Stiles use a wheelchair to get out to the jeep because Stiles was thinking he might never try moving again, no matter what the nurse said about breathing exercises and keeping active after the first week. At least he got a week of bed rest to make sure his knife would healed well before that fun started.

"Why aren't we taking your car?" Stiles asked while adjusting the shirt he had to borrow from Derek's hospital locker.

"Because I'm an employee and I have a parking pass, so my car could stay in that lot until I retire and not get towed. The same cannot be said for your Jeep."

"Right." Stiles was nervous. Stiles trusted Derek, something that came with instincts that had begun to emerge when the first part of the mate bond had slid into place but also because of how he'd been with Kyle, but living with someone you barely know can be really hard. What if Derek's a neat freak (because Stiles so isn't)? Or hates coffee so much that it's banned from his house? _What if he hates all things Marvel?!!!_ Stiles wasn't sure he could live without The Avengers.

Stiles was lost in his own thoughts and before he knew it, Derek was pulling up a driveway. Stiles turned to look at the place he'd be living and gasped with surprise. "You live here? By yourself?" The house was beautiful. The outside was stone with some areas of wooden siding painted a slate grey. The lawn was clearly taken care of with flowers and small bushes planted along the sidewalk and the front of the house.

Derek smiled. "Yeah. My family had a lot of money and I wanted to have a nice place for my future mate and pups." Stiles entire face went up in a blush at the mention of pups. Derek chuckled and turned off the car. "There are four bedrooms, the master is downstairs and the other three are upstairs, and three bathrooms. You should take the master bedroom."

"Derek, it's your house. I don't want to kick you out of your own room."

"It's _our_ house now and I want to take care of you and make you as comfortable as possible."

Stiles agreed with a huff. Derek smiled at him and got out of the jeep to help Stiles into the house. Ok, so maybe Derek carried him into the house. But Stiles didn't enjoy it. Not one bit. Well, maybe just a little.

The inside was modern and warm. Dark colored hardwood floors everywhere with walls painted light blue and cream. The living room had a big fireplace, which Stiles was super excited to use, and big brown leather couches that looked very comfortable. Then there was the master bedroom. The walls were dark grey and the furniture matched to wood floors. There was a mauve area rug at the end of the large bed and the bed linens were completely white. The fluffy duvet looks so inviting and warm.

Derek deposited Stiles on the bed and sat next to him. "Do you like it?" he asked with a shy voice.

"Of course I do! It's absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to explore it once I'm mobile again." Derek's smile was blinding and completely adorable.

******** 

Derek took a paid leave of absence and over the next few weeks, Derek and Stiles settled into a routine and continued to learn more about each other. Derek was sweet, helpful, and attentive, and Stiles couldn't be more grateful, especially after Derek's uncle Peter started coming to the house a few times a week. Peter was a well respected psychiatrist who offered to treat Stiles for free. Stiles hadn't liked that idea at first, but Peter insisted that he wanted to everything he could to help his nephews mate. They were family after all, if not yet officially then when Stiles and Derek completed their bond. Stiles liked Peter. He was kind of creepy, but also nice and he really seemed to care about Derek.

With getting to know Derek better, getting closer, and working through things in his sessions with Peter, things were going pretty well for Stiles. During the day at least. See, during the day, Stiles didn't have too many problems related to his abuse. Sure, he flinched every once in a while when Derek raised his hand near Stiles face, but the fear only lasted a moment and Derek was excellent at both calming Stiles and not making him feel like an idiot for feeling the fear in the first place. And maybe he couldn't look at a knife for the first two and half weeks. But the real problems came at night in the form of exceptionally vivid nightmares every single night.

Most of them were variations of the same thing. Kyle yelling at him and then beating him. Stiles would wake up screaming and crying and Derek would be there to hold him while he whispered nonsense to him. Just like when Derek did it in the hospital, it made Stiles feel safe. The moments after Stiles woke from a nightmare did a lot to bring Derek and Stiles closer together.

The worst of the dreams came every few nights.

 _Stiles would walk into his and Derek's house after a day at work and call out to Derek, telling him he was home. Derek wouldn't answer so Stiles would walk into the kitchen to see if he was too busy cooking dinner to hear him. Then he'd see Kyle standing next to the kitchen island, holding a knife covered in blood. Stiles would be frozen in fear and unable to move except to move his gaze to Kyles feat where he would see Derek lying in a pool of his own blood. Stiles would look back up at Kyle in horror and despair to see him holding a baby. "Please_ _don't hurt my baby! I'll do whatever you want! Just don't hurt Liam." Kyle would smile darkly and hold the knife over the baby._ _Then he'd plunge the knife down and Stiles would scream, "NO!!!"_

Every time Stiles woke up in Derek's arms sobbing. It always took at least half an hour for Stiles to pull himself together after that one. Derek would stay with him the whole time.

After the first week of the nightmares, Derek started sleeping on the living room couch so he was closer to Stiles. Two weeks after that, Stiles started asking him to stay until morning after he'd calmed down from his nightmare. He knew it would make more sense to just have Derek start out in the bed with him each night, but he was too shy to ask.

"Who's Liam," Derek asked one night during the fifth week.

"What?"

"Sometimes you call out for Liam during your nightmares. Will you tell me who he is?"

Stiles didn't know why, but he was nervous to tell Derek who Liam was. He knew it was silly to be nervous because there was no question in Stiles mind that they'd have kids at some point, but he still felt awkward telling him. He took a deep breath. "Liam is our baby. In the dream, I walk into the house and see Kyle standing over your dead body and then he kills Liam in front of me," Stiles says quickly.

"Oh. I'm so sorry you have to see that. I don't know how you're still sane. I'd go crazy if I had to watch someone kill our baby over and over. You're so strong, Stiles."

Stiles may have melted a bit at that. He didn't think anyone had ever called him strong before. They stared into each others eyes for a few minutes before Stiles slowly leaned forward and pressed his lips to Derek's. The kiss was short and sweet, but Stiles felt it all through his body all the same. It was the best kiss of his life, simply because it was with Derek, his wonderful mate.

They smiled at each other when the kiss ended and Derek pulled him further into his arms. Stiles decided Derek wouldn't be starting the night off on the couch anymore.

******** 

At the end of Stiles' eighth week of recovery, he was deemed completely healed. His bruises and most of the cuts had healed weeks earlier, but the knife would and ribs took a bit longer. "How about we go on our first date to celebrate?" Stiles asked as they were heading home from his final doctor's appointment.

Derek's heart seemed to be dancing in his chest. "Really? Are you sure you're ready? I don't mind waiting, Stiles." Derek definitely did not want to wait, but he also didn't want to start anything with Stiles that he wasn't completely ready for. After the kiss they'd shared, they had been closer. They cuddled on the couch while watching tv or movies, they held hands sometimes while they were out running errands, and they slept in the same bed every night. But they hadn't kissed again and they hadn't done anything else.

"I'm totally ready. I've been making a lot of progress with your uncle, I haven't had a nightmare in a week, and I like you as more than a friend."

Derek had to hold back his shout for joy at Stiles' last words. He had been imagining this moment for weeks and he was beyond excited "Great. That's really- I mean-... awesome. What do you want to do?"

Stiles laughed at the problem Derek seemed to be having with words. "How about dinner and a movie? That's pretty standard first date stuff. Oh! Can we go to that new Korean place? I've been dying to try it."

"Of course, whatever you want."

Their first date was going pretty damn well if you asked Derek. They were laughing and enjoying each other, the food was great, and Stiles kept doing this completely adorable thing where he'd look at Derek from under his lashes and then blush when Derek caught him staring. But then...

"Will you tell me about your family?" Derek froze with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth and stared at Stiles until he started to fidget. "It's just, we've talked about everything under the sun, but never our families. Or Kyle. But I want to know everything about you, and I feel like it's time that I tell you how I ended up in that hospital." Derek growled a little until Stiles grabbed his hand and rubbed small circles on Derek's skin with his thumb. "If we're going to start a relationship, I think it's important that you know about Kyle. And my story with Kyle is connected to my family, so I thought we could talk about both."

Derek sighed and looked at the table. He didn't want to hide anything from Stiles, it wasn't about that. Derek just had a really hard time talking about his family and he'd been dreading this day for weeks. "Ok. I'll tell you about my family and then you tell me about your family and Kyle." Stiles nodded his head and smiled.

Derek took a deep breath. "My mom's name was Talia. She was beautiful, smart, fierce. She and my dad were amazing parents and loved each other like crazy. My dad's name was Henry. He was the first person in his family to find his true mate in two generations, so it was a pretty big deal that he found my mom and she was his world. I had two older siblings, a sister named Laura and a brother named Thomas, and two younger siblings, twin sisters named Cora and Holly. Peter and his wife lived with us too.

"Our family was really close, we went on vacations together a lot and always went to each others school and sporting events. One day when I was 13, my mom sent Peter and I to the grocery store to get something for a recipe she was going to make for dinner; I can't remember what it was anymore. When we got back, the entire house was in flames. Peter called 911 and held me back so I wouldn't run into the house. The fire department and ambulances came, but it was too late. No one made it out of the house."

"Oh my god, Derek. That's so horrible. Do they know how the fire started?"

Derek's jaw tensed for a moment before he could answer. "Yeah. There was this family, the Argents, who used to hunt werewolves. When the family retired from hunting, not all of the members were very happy and some continued to hunt in secret on their own. One of them was named Kate. She learned we were wolves and decided that there were far too many of us. She set the house on fire and blocked all of the ways out with mountain ash." Derek blinked away tears and looked up at Stiles.

"I'm so sorry, Derek. I didn't- I shouldn't have asked you to tell me that."

"No, it's ok. I had to tell you at some point, I'm glad it's out in the open now." Derek smiled at Stiles and threaded their fingers together.

"Guess it's my turn then. It was just me and my parents when I was growing up. My mom's name was Claudia and she was the sweetest women I've ever known. My dad's name was John. He was the sheriff of a small town about half an hour from here called Beacon Hills. When I was 8, my mom was diagnosed with Lung cancer. It was caught really late though and she only live about 10 months after that. She died three months after my 9th birthday.

"Then it was just me and dad. It was really rough for a while, my dad was drinking a lot and wasn't home much. I met my best friend Scott a month after she died and we were inseparable for years. All the way up until Kyle. Scott helped me deal with my mom's death and dad eventually came around. We became close again. When I was 19 and in my second year at the local community college, my dad was shot at a crime scene. He went into a coma and I practically lived at the hospital for the next six weeks. He passed away during the night."

Stiles stopped talking and looked at the table for a few moments. Derek waited patiently, not wanting to push Stiles to keep talking if he didn't want to.

"I met Kyle at the hospital. It was during my dad's second week there. I was crying over a cup of coffee in a corner of the cafeteria and he sat down with me. He was cute and he made me laugh. His uncle was in the hospital, dying of cancer. We met and talked everyday after that first day and we started dating just before my dad died. Kyle helped me get through it.

"He was really great at first and I fell for him fast. He convinced me to move in with him three months after we started dating, and that's when things started to change. At first, he had me blowing off Scott and my other friends, then he didn't want me working. Scott didn't like Kyle and he tried to tell me how controlling Kyle was becoming, but I didn't see it. Or wouldn't. I loved Kyle, so I made up excuses for him. Then the abuse started.

"The first time he hit me, we had been arguing about how he thought I was talking to a guy friend of mine too much, he thought the guy was in love with me, and I yelled something at him. Then he slapped me. I was completely surprised and I started crying. Kyle apologized profusely and said it would never happen again. I believed him, of course, and forgave him.

"It was a while before it happened again. Kyle had become increasingly more jealous and controlling. He wanted me to stop seeing my friends, I was angry and yelling, he hit me. Multiple times. He apologized after, but didn't say it wouldn't happen again. I stopped seeing my friends and Kyle kept beating me for things like asking directions from a guy to the bathroom in the grocery store or smiling at a guy that walked past us. He always made it my fault, I was a bad boyfriend so I had to be punished. I guess I started believing him at some point." Derek squeezed his hand and Stiles gave him a small smile. "He accused me of cheating pretty often. That's why he beat me the night I ended up in your hospital."

Derek had practically been vibrating in his seat with anger at Kyle for most of Stiles' story about him. He couldn't imagine treating anyone like that, especially not Stiles. Werewolves are fiercely protective of their mates and pups and it's against their nature to hurt them. It would physically pain Derek to hurt Stiles, even if it was an accident. Derek really wished Stiles had let him kill Kyle. "I hate that you had to go through all of that."

Stiles smiled. "It's ok. Now I have you, and we might never have met if all that stuff with Kyle hadn't happened." Stiles had a point, but Derek certainly wasn't going to be thanking Kyle for making it possible for he and Stiles to meet.

They spent the rest of their meal talking about much lighter subjects and Derek was only too happy to agree when Stiles suggested that they rent a movie and watch it at home. They picked a romantic comedy and settled in on the couch together with Stiles basically sitting in Derek's lap. Derek didn't mind that at all.

Halfway through the movie, Stiles suddenly turned and kissed Derek. Derek kissed him back with a low growl. They didn't stop until long after the movie ended.


	5. What Is Love Without Lust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello cupcakes! I'm SOOOO sorry for taking so long to update but things have been crazy lately. I have very little free-time right now, but I'm going to do my best to do an update once a week from now on.
> 
> So it turns out that writing a sex scene is much harder than reading one. Who'da thunk, right? So I'm terribly sorry if the one in this chapter is bad. I'm really just hoping that it's not the worst you've ever read. If it is the worst, don't tell me. Let me live in my delusions of being an OK writer.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy!

Derek had been watching Stiles stare at his new cellphone for the last twenty-two minutes. Twenty-three minutes ago, Peter had left after finishing a session with Stiles where he said he thought it may be time for Stiles to contact his friends. Reconnecting with his friends was a very important part of healing, and almost four months after the incident with Kyle, Peter felt Stiles's distance from his friends was the only thing holding him back from completely moving on. Derek knew that Stiles missed his friends so much, and he wanted to see them, but he was also scared.

"It's been like _eight_ _months_ since I've talked them, Derek. EIGHT MONTHS! And it's been like a year since I've actually seen them. What if they've moved on? What if they found someone to replace me with? What if Scott found a new best friend?!" Stiles rambled as he continued to stare at the phone.

"Stiles, I've never met your friends, but what you've told me about them makes me think that they still love you and are probably worried sick about you. Call Scott, you need him and the others."

Stiles sighed. "Ok. Here it goes." It was a good thing that Stiles remembered Scott's phone number, because his old phone had been left at Kyle's, which meant it was lost forever. Stiles gripped Derek with one hand and dialed with his other.

Scott finally answered on the fourth ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, Scott. It's me- I mean Stiles." The following silence was loud in a way Derek had never experienced.

"Stiles?" Scott whispered. "Who's phone are you calling from? Are you ok?! Did something happen?" Scott seemed to have jumped quickly from surprise to panic.

"No! Well, yeah actually. But I'd rather not talk about it over the phone. Can you come meet me? Please?"

"Of course. I'll leave as soon as we hang up. I'm assuming you don't want to meet at your apartment," Scott said with a bit of anger in his voice.

"No. I'll text you the address. Thanks, Scott. I'll see you soon." Stiles texted Scott as soon as they hung up.

Derek pulled Stiles into his arms. "You ok?" he asked into Stiles' hair.

"Yeah. I'm really nervous about his though. I'm going to have to tell Scott what happened with Kyle. And then I'm going to have to tell the others. It's just going to be hard reliving it."

Derek rubbed his back and gave him a kiss. "It'll be fine. And I'll be with you the whole time. Unless you don't want me to be. I can leave if you want..."

"No! No, I want you here. Scott needs to meet you and understand what you've done for me." Derek nodded and waited on the couch with Stiles for Scott to arrive and did his best to ignore Stiles' nervous bouncing.

When the doorbell rang, Stiles jumped like he'd been shocked. He stood and slowly walked towards the front door. Derek stayed in the living room to give Stiles and Scott some space, but he moved to where he could see the door and Stiles. Derek watched as he took a deep breath before opening the door.

The man on the other side of the door was tall and muscular with big brown eyes and thick hair. He and Stiles stared at each other for a few minutes before Scott's face broke into a grin and he pulled Stiles into a tight hug. Derek heard Stiles' sniffles and smelled his tears.

"I missed you, man," Scott said as he stepped back from Stiles.

"I missed you, too. Come into the living room so we can talk."

Scott walked in and looked around. Stiles lead the way to the living room and took a seat on one of the couches with Derek sitting next to him. Scott followed Stiles in and sat in the big leather chair next to the couch Stiles was sitting on, and then his eyes slid to Derek.

"Who is this? And who's house are we in?" Scott asked with a bit of suspicion in his voice.

Stiles took Derek's hand. "This is Derek, and this is our house."

"You're living with this guy?"

"Yeah, but-" Stiles started.

"What the fuck Stiles?! What happened with Kyle and how long have you been here?"

"I left Kyle almost four months ago; I've been here since then."

"FOUR MONTHS?! Four months and you couldn't have taken two minutes to call one of us and say you'd left that prick?" Scott looked angry and hurt.

"Scott, it's complicated. I didn't-"

"Complicated? Oh my god. It's because of this guy isn't it? He's controlling you just like Kyle did. How else could he have gotten you to move in with him immediately after leaving Kyle?"

"No, it's not like that!"

"I'm not watching this happen again, Stiles. It almost killed me with Kyle, and then you disappeared and everyday I waited for the phone call that said you were dead, that he'd finally snapped. You're going to come home with me and we're going to get you help so you stop finding these guys that treat you like trash." Scott said with determination. Derek was not happy with how this conversation was going.

"Scott, I don't need help, or at least not for that. Look, I'm fine now. Derek doesn't control me. If you'll just let me explain-"

"No! I'm done listening to your excuses, your reasons why what's happening to you is right and ok." Scott stood up and grabbed Stiles arm to pull him up from the couch. "Come on. We're leaving right now."

Derek had been quiet until that point, wanting to let Stiles and Scott talk since it had been so long, but now he was scared that Scott really would take Stiles away and angry at Scott for not listening to Stiles. He jumped up with flashing red eyes and pulled Stiles into his arms in a protective way. "No! You can't take him," Derek growled.

"I'm certainly not leaving him here!" Scott yelled.

"ENOUGH!" Stiles shouted. Scott stared at him with his mouth hanging open and Derek immediately stopped growling, but his body was shaking with the need to make sure his mate was safe. Stiles looked up into Derek's eyes and stroked his cheek. "It's ok, babe. I'm not going anywhere. Scott won't take me away from you." Derek buried his face in Stiles neck and breathed in his scent to calm himself.

"Stiles-"

"No. You need to listen now. Derek isn't some controlling asshole who manipulated me into coming home with him, and he hasn't kept me from calling you. He's my mate, Scott. He's taken care of me and helped me so much. I love him." Derek's heart stopped for a moment when he heard that. Derek had loved Stiles for a while now, but he wasn't sure exactly how Stiles felt about him.

Derek had been hesitant to tell Stiles how he felt because he didn't want to push Stiles for something more than he was ready for. There was a chance that Stiles may have never loved him. The thing with the mate bond was that it created a connection between two people, made them a good match for producing pups, and eventually allowed for the two to find each other no matter where they may be and to feel when the other was in danger, but there was no insta-love. Mate bond relationships required work, just like any other relationship.

Scott seemed taken aback at Stiles standing up for himself. "Why don't we sit back down and I'll tell you everything that's happened?"

Scott nodded and everyone sat down. Derek pulled Stiles against him, not willing to let go yet.

********

After Stiles finished telling Scott about what happened with Kyle and how Derek had helped him, Scott suggested that they call the others so that they could all catch up. Derek said he would cook dinner. So, half an our later, Lydia, Jackson, Kira, and Danny were sitting in Stiles' living room listening to Stiles as he retold the story of his last few months while Scott helped Derek in the kitchen. Stiles hoped Scott wasn't interrogating Derek.

Kira cried through most of the story and gave him a big hug at the end, which everyone else ended up joining. After, the group ate dinner and talked about what had been going on in their lives and asked Derek about himself. Stiles was happy to see that everyone seemed to like Derek, although he guessed that they would have liked pretty much anyone better than Kyle.

At about 10 pm, Stiles' friends decided that it was time to head home. They all said their goodbyes and made plans to have a weekly dinner to be held at a different friend's house each week. When they were all filing out of the house, Lydia stopped and turned back to Stiles. "You did good, Stiles. He's really great," she said and walked out the door. Stiles had to wipe his eyes a bit when he closed and locked the door behind his friends.

Stiles folded himself into Derek's arms and sighed. "How are you feeling?" Derek asked.

"Good. Awesome. It's amazing to have them back, and kind of weird to have a boyfriend that they actually like."

Derek chuckled. "Good weird, I hope."

"Of course," Stiles said with a smile. Derek pulled Stiles back to the couch and turned a movie on.

"So. You love me," Derek said as he stared into Stiles eyes.

Stiles blushed and ducked his head. "Yeah." He hadn't really meant to tell Scott that he loved Derek right in front of him. But he couldn't really regret saying it. Derek had been amazing the last few months, and he'd definitely won Stiles' heart.

"I love you, too," Derek whispered before he took Stiles' face in his hands and kissed him.

Stiles instantly melted into Derek and moaned. He wrapped his arms around Derek's neck and pulled himself into Derek's lap, wanting to be as close to him as possible. Derek nipped Stiles' lower lip and licked into his mouth when Stiles gasped in surprise. Stiles sucked on the invading tongue, happy when he heard Derek's groan.

Stiles pulled away, gasping for breath and felt Derek move down to his neck, sucking marks onto his skin and giving little nips.

"Derek," Stiles said between heavy breaths, "I think we should complete our bond. Right now."

Derek stopped his assault on Stiles neck to look into Stiles eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm ready." Derek stared into Stiles' eyes for a few more moments, searching for something. He must have found it because he gave Stiles a blistering kiss and said, "Ok. Nothing would make me happier."

Stiles beamed at Derek and pulled him off of the couch and into the bedroom. Stiles was nervous, but it was a good nervous. He felt like he was standing on the edge of something big, something life changing. And he was ready to jump.

Completing the mate bond was pretty simple: the first time a mate pair had sex, they bit each other. There were rules to it, of course, they couldn't just bite each other whenever they felt like it and there were specific parts of the body that were viable bond areas, but most of it happened based on instinct, so there wasn't much thought involved in it.

While the couple made love, they would feel their bond becoming more solid, and then at a certain point, they would feel the urge to bite their partner, which would trigger orgasms in both parties. The bites heal in a few hours into a very visible scar.

Mate pairs generally chose a place to bite each other before beginning so that they bit in the same place. They can choose to bite either of the trapezius muscles (the meaty part between the neck and the shoulder), just above the hip on either side of the body, or either thigh. The bite didn't turn humans into werewolves as werewolves were born, not turned.

Completing the bond meant that the mate pair were married, although they still had to apply for a marriage license and show their bites for legal reasons.

Stiles was a little worried about the pain of the bite, but not about the sex itself. For all of Kyle's violence, he wasn't really one for rough sex and he never raped Stiles. Mostly, Kyle liked doggy style or blow jobs. So sex wasn't a traumatic thing for Stiles. He was actually quite excited for that part since it had been months since he'd gotten any.

"So where do you want our bites to be?" Stiles asked as he bounced onto the bed and turned to look at Derek.

Derek sat next to him and looked Stiles over. "Hm... I think here, next to the neck. Then everyone can see that you're taken." Derek's eyes widened a bit. Obviously he hadn't meant to say that part.

Stiles smirked. "Sounds good to me." Stiles crawled closer to Derek and said, "I want everyone to know that I have a big strong alpha taking care of me, and I want everyone to know that you belong to a human." Because wolves used their shifted teeth for the bite, it was very easy to distinguish between bites made by werewolves and bites made by humans.

"I'm so very glad that I do." Derek reached for the hem of Stiles' shirt but looked up, asking for permission, before pulling it up and over Stiles' head. He discarded his own before gently pushing Stiles back onto the pillows. He rustled through the drawer of the bedside table for a few seconds and then brought out a condom.

One of the perks of being a carrier was that Stiles made his own slick. Stiles couldn't count the times he'd made a joke about being 'self-lubricating'.

Stiles' heart was hammering in his chest when Derek leaned down to resume their kiss from earlier, thrusting his tongue in and out of his mouth in a way that had Stiles straining his hips against Derek's. Derek moaned and ground his hips down, letting Stiles feel the hardening bulge in his pants.

Stiles gasped and reached for the zipper on Derek's pants, desperate to get them both naked. Derek placed open-mouthed kisses down Stiles chest and stomach as he removed their pants and then held himself above Stiles on his hands and knees.

Stiles' gaze traveled down Derek's body, arousal pooling in his belly as he took in the prize between his mate's legs. When he looked back up at Derek's face, he saw that his eyes had gone dark with lust. Derek licked his lips. "God, you're beautiful," he said before diving in for a taste of Stiles' left nipple.

Stiles squirmed and moaned as Derek laved the peak with his tongue, occasionally biting down and sending a jolt of heat through Stiles' body. "Derek," Stiles gasped, "touch me, _please_. Open me up."

Derek slowly moved his hand down Stiles' body until he found his hole. He stayed there a moment, feeling the tight ring of muscles and gathering some slick on his fingers, before slowly pushing past and sliding them in as far as he could. Stiles groaned, long and low.

"You're so tight, Stiles. So hot and tight." Derek surged back up to Stiles' lips and kissed him while fucking him with his fingers.

Stiles cried out when Derek found his prostate. Derek smiled against Stiles' mouth and added another finger, pressing over the spot that made Stiles see stars and occasionally scissoring his fingers.

Stiles was panting and open and he _wanted_. "Der, I'm ready. I need you inside me."

Derek pulled his fingers out of Stiles and put his legs on Derek's shoulders. Stiles felt the blunt tip of Derek's cock, and then he was pushing inside and groaning loudly. Derek slid in until his balls were flush against Stiles ass and waited there for a few moments, shaking slightly. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah _,_ you can move," Stiles said in a breathless voice.

"Thank god!"

Stiles started laughing, but quickly stopped when Derek pulled out a few inches and slid back in. Then all he could do was feel the intense pleasure and fullness of Derek's cock inside him.

Derek and Stiles moved together, gasping and moaning. As the minutes passed, the feelings and sensations became more intense. Then, they felt their bond growing, glowing with warmth between them.

Stiles was achingly hard when be felt the urge to bite, to claim. So he did. He moved his mouth to the area between the right side of Derek's neck and shoulder, licked the area, and then bit down hard. He screamed around the flesh in his mouth as he felt Derek do the same to him, and then he was coming so hard he couldn't see. Wave after wave of pleasure mixed with a small amount of pain crashed over Stiles.

When he finally came back to awareness, his throat was raw and his shoulder was a bit sore, but now where near as bad as he thought it was going to be. Derek leaned down to lick the blood away from Stiles and he stretched his limbs.

"That was amazing," Stiles said with a wide smile. Derek hummed his agreement and repositioned them so that they were lying facing each other.

"I'm so glad you're mate, Stiles."

Stiles looked down shyly. Even though he'd just had the best sexual experience of his life, he was feeling a bit insecure about his humanness. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather have a werewolf for a mate? I know some wolves don't want human partners because they think they make weak pups."

Derek held Stiles' face and kissed him. "I promise you that I have never and will never care that you're not a werewolf. I love you and I don't want anyone else. And how can our pups be anything but amazing with us as their parents?"

Stiles laughed. "I love you, too."


	6. You Put Your Arms Around Me And I'm Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (MTV owns everything)
> 
> Hello cupcakes! So it looks like Thursday is going to be our official update day. Feel free to hassle me if I'm late.
> 
> Pregnant Stiles is coming soon! I originally planned to wait a bit for that, but I'm just too impatient.
> 
> A bit of a shorter chapter today, but I hope you guys enjoy :)

Derek hated his job. That wasn't true, he really loved his job. But right now, he hated it.

After two months of being officially bonded to his mate, really _fantastic_ two months filled with sex on pretty much every surface of the house, Derek and Stiles had decided that it was time for Derek to return to work and for Stiles to start looking for a job.

Derek's first day back to work had been difficult. His instincts kept telling him to run home to his mate, but that was nothing compared to what he was feeling now.

It was now a month later and Stiles' first day at his new job. He'd found a job working about 24 hours per week, three 8-hour days, as a waiter at a local diner. It wasn't a glamorous job, but it would give Stiles the independence he needed, as well as something to do now that Derek wasn't home with him all day.

Derek was happy for Stiles, he really was, but his wolf was restless and his human side wasn't feeling any better. When it was just Derek working, he could comfort himself with the knowledge that his newly bonded mate was safe at home. Now, Stiles was going to be somewhere with a bunch of strange people for hours multiple times a week.

The hours seemed to be crawling by at the pace of a turtle walking through peanut butter. In addition to time running extra slow, Derek had a moment of sheer panic every time a new patient came through the ER doors, thinking it was Stiles.

Logically, Derek knew he was being ridiculous. If Stiles was hurt or in danger, Derek would feel it. But he couldn't help imagining all kinds of scenarios where a customer got aggressive or a crazy person shot up the diner. He had let his mind run wild with these ideas during his lunch break, but he did his best to calm his mind while exiting the cafeteria so that he would be able to perform his job properly.

"Hey! Glad you're back. How's your adorable mate?" Erica asked when Derek made it back to the ER's front desk.

"Well, I've been here for the last five hours. So I wouldn't know, would I?" Derek grumbled.

"You're such a sour wolf. I'm sure he's fine. Have you knocked him up yet?"

Derek choked on the coffee he had just taken a sip of. He was sure he was blushed redder than a lobster. "Erica, you can't just ask people that," he said.

"I just did. Are you guys waiting for a while? Or do you just have slow swimmers?" Erica asks with a toothy grin.

"Oh my god, Erica! First of all, don't talk about my sperm. Ever. Second, we haven't really talked about it. I mean, we've both said we want kids, we just haven't discussed when that might happen."

Derek wanted pups desperately. He'd lost his entire family, except for Peter, over a decade ago and he was tired of not having a pack, lots of people to love. But, he was nervous about talking to Stiles about it. Stiles had been through so much, and they hadn't even known each other for a year. So he'd decided that he would wait for Stiles to say he was ready.

"But I want to see miniature Derek's!"

"I'm walking away, now," Derek said as he turned around.

"Baby Derek's with little scowls!" Erica yelled after him, earning some odd looks from other nurses and a few patients. Derek kept his eyes down and cursed Erica for her loud mouth.

For the rest of his shift, Derek thought of what his and Stiles' children might look like.

********

Stiles was exhausted when he got home after his first shift at the diner. He pulled the Jeep in at about ten minutes after 8, wondering what Derek had made for dinner. It was weird getting home and knowing that Derek was already there. For the last few months, Stiles had been the one waiting for Derek.

"Hey, babe. I'm home," Stiles said as he took his shoes off in the mudroom. Without any kind of warning, Stiles was being crushed in the arms of a large werewolf who was busying himself with scenting Stiles all over.

Stiles chuckled and rubbed Derek's back. "I missed you, too, and I totally love this, but can we move to the couch or our bed? I'd prefer to be comfortable, especially if this is going to take a while." Derek had done the same thing the first few days after he'd started working again. Stiles had known Derek would probably need to do it again when he found a job. After having Stiles to himself for over half a year, it was understandable that Derek might have a little trouble with Stiles being covered in a bunch of strangers' scents.

Silently, Derek picked up Stiles and walked him to their bedroom. Derek removed both of their clothing before carefully laying Stiles on the bed and then covering him with his body. Derek nuzzled Stiles neck, licking his mating mark, and worked his way down Stiles' abdomen.

Stiles _really_ enjoyed Derek's instinct to scent. It might seem a little weird, but it was intimate and pretty damn sexy. Plus, there hadn't been a time yet where it hadn't ended in sex.

As Derek moved lower, Stiles heartbeat quickened and he started breathing faster. Finally, Derek made it down to Stiles' hardening cock, but instead of taking it in his mouth like Stiles wanted, he skipped right over it and moved to Stiles' legs. Stiles let out a frustrated groan. He wanted to beg Derek to touch him, to wrap his gorgeous lips around him, but he knew it wouldn't do any good. Derek needed to cover Stiles in his scent before he would do anything else. So Stiles waited patiently. Sort of.

After Derek finished with Stiles front, except for his cock because he's a horrible bastard who likes to torment Stiles, he flipped Stiles over and started on his back. Derek nibbled on Stiles' shoulder blades, pulling small sounds from Stiles, and rubbed his stubbled cheeks down to his hips.

When Derek reached Stiles's ass, he gently pulled the cheeks apart and gave Stiles a long lick. "Ungh. God, Derek," Stiles panted.

Derek continued down Stiles legs until he was finally finished. He flipped Stiles back over and settled himself between Stiles' legs. Stiles watched with lust-blown eyes as Derek looked up at him seductively before engulfing Stiles' entire cock in hot, wet pleasure. Derek moaned, sending vibrations up and down Stiles' length and Stiles moaned. "Fuck!"

Derek's hands gripped Stiles' hips, keeping him from thrusting into the warmth of his mouth, and began bobbing up and down. Derek curled his tongue around the head of Stiles' cock and sucked greedily. Stiles whined and buried his fingers in Derek's hair.

Derek continued to destroy Stiles little by little until Stiles started to feel the telltale tingle at the base of his spine that meant his orgasm was fast approaching. Derek finally let go of Stiles' hips and let him fuck his mouth. "Der, I'm gonna cum!" he said, just before his world turned white and pleasure flowed through his limbs in waves.

Stiles screamed when he released down Derek's throat. Derek swallowed everything Stiles gave him and then gave his softening cock a kiss. He crawled up Stiles' body and gave him a searing kiss, letting Stiles taste his own cum on his tongue. Derek pulled away and laid himself on top of Stiles, putting his ear to Stiles rapidly beating heart.

"What about dinner?" Stiles asked after a few minutes.

Derek sat up enough to look at Stiles' face. "I thought we could order pizza. I didn't want to have to worry about dinner getting cold while I scented you, or whatever else happened afterward," he said with a grin.

"Good idea! I'm starving, so let's order."

Once their pepperoni and black olive pizza arrived - Stiles' favorite - the two sat on their couch with their meal and put on the first Lord of the Rings. Stiles was sitting sideways with his feet on Derek's lap, enjoying the one-handed foot rub Derek was giving him. After he finished his third slice, Stiles decided to get himself a refill of coke and turned to Derek to ask if he needed anything from the kitchen.

Stiles stopped and just stared at his mate for a moment. He let his mind wander into the future and thought about all the years he had ahead with the amazing man next to him, and he came to a decision. "Derek?"

"Yeah, love?" Derek said distractedly, focused on the movie and his pizza.

"I want a baby."

Derek looked at Stiles with hope in his eyes. "Really? You want- are you sure? I mean, we could wait a while. We haven't really been together that long." Derek looked a little sad at the thought of waiting, but he was willing to, which made Stiles' heart swell with love.

Stiles moved to straddle Derek's lap and looked into his mates eyes. "I'm sure. I love you and I don't see any reason why we should wait. But I don't want to make trying to conceive a really big thing. I don't want to do the whole tracking ovulation and all that. I don't want it to be a chore. I think making a baby should be fun, especially since we won't get to have sex for a while after it's born. I think we should just stop trying to prevent it from happening. No more condoms and then it'll happen when it happens."

Derek pulled Stiles down for a long kiss. "That sounds perfect. I love you so much. You have no idea how happy you make me," Derek said with his forehead pressed against Stiles'.

Stiles grinned. "I love you too, babe."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That sex scene totally snuck up on me! I had no plans to add a sex scene in this chapter, and then Derek and Stiles were like, "We're having sex. Deal with it." So I did. Next chapter soon!


	7. You're Everything, The Air That I Breath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (MTV owns everything)
> 
> Hello cupcakes! I know, I'm late with the update and I'm a terrible person. Unfortunately, I have a sick doggy and she needs a lot of love and supervision right now, so I've been a little preoccupied. But hopefully, this is a really good chapter and you guys will forgive me!
> 
> One of our lovely Teen Wolf friends who has not previously been in the story will be making an appearance today! Not sure how big her role will be, because I'm terrible at writing supporting characters, but I guess we'll just have to see.
> 
> Also, I started a new fic and it would make me oh so happy if you all would be so kind as to check it out. It's Sterek, of course, and I think it'll be pretty interesting :) It can be found here: [This Wasn't In The Pamphlet](http://www.archiveofourown.org/works/1794004/chapters/3846304/)

"What can I get for you ladies?" Stiles asked the two high school age girls that had just sat down in his section.

The girl wearing the bright-as-fuck pink lipstick looked up at Stiles with a pinched expression and said, "I know it's not on the menu, but do you guys have tofu burgers?" with the most annoying voice Stiles thought he had ever heard.

"Sorry, only cow burgers here."

Pink Lipstick heaved a great sigh. "Fine. I guess I'll just have a greek salad and water."

"I'll have the same," Pink Lipstick's friend, Bra For A Shirt, said with an equally annoying voice.

"I'll put your order in and be right back with your drinks," Stiles said, though the two girls had already started ignoring him. He delivered the order to the kitchen, brought water to the girls' table, and then went to help Allison refill the ketchup bottles and salt shakers.

Allison was Stiles' first real friend at his diner job. She was very sweet and she made Stiles laugh, so he was happy whenever they had the same shift.

"Is it 10 yet?"

"Sorry, sweetie, but you've got another hour." Stiles groaned and thumped his head onto the counter. Allison chuckled. "At least you've got Boobs 1 and 2 over there to keep you company," she said with a grin.

"Oh yeah, because I'm so much for the boobs, what with all my gayness." Allison snorted and handed Stiles a ketchup bottle.

By the time Stiles' shift was over, he was _exhausted_. Something about dealing with picky customers and shitty tips all day really drains a person.

Stiles walked into the house and made his way to the kitchen, turning on lights as he went, and got out last night's beef lo mein to heat up. It wasn't a very exciting dinner, but Derek was working until 2 AM and he didn't have the energy to actually make food.

Stiles sat with his now hot-as-the-sun lo mein and turned on the tv. Both he and Derek had the next day off, so Stiles planned on staying up until Derek got home.

Even though Derek had been back to work for weeks now, it was still weird for Stiles to be home alone. He would be glad when there was a tiny person there for him to take care of. Then he'd always have a piece of Derek there with him. And maybe that sounded a little creepy-stalkerish, but whatever, Stiles was totally cool with his weirdness.

Stiles had been watching the food channel for an hour and a half when he finally heard the garage door opening. Stiles jumped up and ran to the door so that he could assault Derek as soon as he walked in.

Derek walked through the door and immediately had his arms full of Stiles, who pushed him back against the closed door and kissed him breathless. "Hey, baby," Stiles said when he pulled away, grinning like a lune.

Derek smiled. "Hey, love. I missed you." Derek said it with so much love in his voice, like he always does, and it makes Stiles' stomach flip every time.

This was how it was supposed to be. How relationships should _always_ be. It made Stiles ache to think that he'd ever settled for something less. But then, he knew that any relationship that wasn't with Derek wouldn't have been like this, wouldn't have been right.

Stiles leaned back in and found Derek's lips again, but it was slower this time, deeper. Derek allowed Stiles to run the kiss for a minute, let Stiles explore his mouth with his tongue, but then he couldn't stop himself from taking over. Stiles loved that, loved that Derek took control, but let Stiles have it too.

Derek turned them so that Stiles had his back against the door. He pressed in, letting Stiles feel his hardening length, and ground his hips against Stiles's. Stiles moaned into Derek's mouth and wound his arms around his neck, pulling him in as close as possible. Derek slid his hands down Stiles long back, down over his ass, down to the back of his thighs, which he gripped hard and then lifted Stiles. Stiles gasped and instinctively wrapped his legs around Derek's lean hips.

Derek slipped one had into Stiles' jeans to press against Stiles' wet hole. Stiles jumped and groaned with the sensation, feeling himself growing even wetter.

"Couch. Couch, now," He said when he'd ripped his mouth away from Derek's for some much needed oxygen.

Derek complied and divested Stiles of his shirt, as well as his own, along the way. When they reached the couch, Derek put Stiles down for a moment so they could both remove their pants and boxers, falling onto the couch together once naked.

Derek sat with Stiles straddling his lap. Stiles grabbed Derek's cock, making Derek release a low groan and he worked the length and sucked marks onto Derek's neck while Derek began working his fingers into Stiles.

Before he even managed to put the third finger in, Stiles stopped him. "I'm ready, right now. Can't wait. Need you inside me."

Derek growled and grabbed Stiles' hips. Stiles brought his hands to Derek's shoulders for stability and slowly lowered himself down until he was fully seated on Derek's cock. The pleasure/pain from the slight burn felt fantastic to Stiles. He certainly enjoyed being opened by Derek's fingers, but sometimes, he just wanted to feel stretched by Derek's cock.

"Fuck. So full," he said before starting to move up and down.

"Gonna fill you even more," Derek said with a gravelly voice.

Stiles moaned. "Yeah? You gonna cum in me? Fill me up with your pups?" Derek whined and pulled Stiles mouth back to his.

"You're gonna make me cum too fast if you keep talking like that."

Stiles grinned and started moving faster and he felt Derek grip his hips tighter, tight enough to bruise. "I want that, Derek. To give you pups. Want it so bad."

Derek slammed Stiles down and yelled Stiles' name with his release. The feeling of his mate's hot seed pulsing through him pushed Stiles over the edge.

The two collapse into each other, a tangle of sweaty limbs, and did their best to calm their breathing and galloping hearts. Derek laid them down on the couch so that they're facing each other.

"Sorry. I know that was really fast, but I couldn't stop it. Actually, I blame you. That was entirely your fault."

Stiles cackled. "It's not the quantity but the quality that's important, babe. And I thought that was pretty damn awesome."

"Yeah, it was. It's really late so we should get to bed," Derek said as he sat up.

"Carry me, Der. I'm too tired to walk."

Derek chuckled and picked Stiles up bridal style before walking towards their bedroom. "So demanding."

"I'm just preparing you for the baby."

"Of course you are."

********

The next morning (it was 11:53 so it still counts!), Derek woke to an empty bed and sounds coming from the kitchen. He smiled, got up to pull on a pair of pajama pants, and walked out to see what his mate was making for breakfast.

He watched Stiles working at the stove on what looked like pancakes while he walked through the living room, smiling, but came to a sudden halt when his mate's scent hit him.

Stiles turned to Derek and smiled. "Morning, babe. I made pancakes." Derek just stood staring at his mate with tears filling his eyes. "Der, what's wrong?"

Derek walked to Stiles and knelt in front of him. He lifted up Stiles t-shirt and buried his face in his mate's stomach, breathing in the sweet scent he found there.

"Oh my god. Am I-?" Stiles said with awe and cautious excitement. Derek trailed kisses across Stiles' lower stomach before looking up into Stiles' eyes and nodding.

Derek watched tears spill from his mate's eyes and down his cheeks. He sat all the way on the floor and pulled Stiles down onto his lap. Derek held his mate's face and whispered, "I love you. I love you so much. Thank you," between the kisses he placed all over Stiles' face.

Stiles pulled Derek's mouth to his. "I love you, too," he said before letting Derek pulling him into a tight embrace, their faces tucked in each others necks.

Derek couldn't believe it. Stiles was pregnant, carrying _his_ pup. He couldn't wait to hear the heartbeat, but that wouldn't happen for another two or three weeks as the baby's heart would start beating at around six weeks.

"Can you tell how many weeks I am?"

"Three to four weeks. That's when your body starts producing enough pregnancy hormones for a werewolf to smell it."

Stiles pulled back and looked down at his flat stomach and placed a hand over it. "I can't believe there's a little life in there."

"A little life that needs food. Let's eat breakfast."

Derek and Stiles took their pancakes to their bed, ate the cooled food, and then positioned themselves so that Stiles was lying, shirtless, on his back and Derek was between his legs, looking down at Stiles' stomach while rubbing it.

"I can't wait to watch your belly grow with our pup."

Stiles carded his fingers through Derek's hair and smiled at him. "Are you still going to want me when I'm as big as a house and I need your help to tie my own shoes?"

"Of course. That'll be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Derek said before sliding up Stiles' body and giving him a sound kiss.


	8. Your Skin And Bones Turn Into Something Beautiful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (MTV owns everything)
> 
> I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up! RL has been a real bitch lately and it's just been impossible to find time to write this. But whatever, here it is! Things should be a bit calmer now so I'm hoping to get another chapter up this next weekend.
> 
> The mpreg portion of the story is finally in full swing! I'm not going to write every moment of the pregnancy, that would be super boring, but the moments I think are important or cute or that demand to be written.
> 
> P.S.  
> The four *'s indicate a little time jump, not a switch in POV. The first part takes place when Stiles's is six weeks pregnant and the next part is a few weeks later.  
> Hope you guys enjoy and thank you to everyone who has read/commented/left kudos/bookmarked. I really appreciate the support!!

Derek was torn from a strange dream about moving to Alaska and shacking up with a very frisky rubber duck by a sound. Derek sat up quickly and looked around the bedroom with an arm protectively placed over his mate's middle, saw nothing that would suggest they were in immediate danger, and relaxed a bit before looking at the clock. 3:47 AM. Derek scrubbed a hand over his face and listened for the sound again.

There it was, a soft, whooshing sound that was like a a very fast, muffled...

Derek scrambled over to Stiles, getting caught in the sheets in his haste to press his ear to Stiles' still flat belly. Derek face broke into a grin and he laughed quietly with wonder. He was listening to _his pup's heartbeat_.

Derek was pretty sure this was the most amazing moment of his life. Derek and Stiles had known Stiles was pregnant for the last three weeks, it wasn't like the pup's existence was new information for Derek, but now, hearing his baby's heartbeat, it finally really sunk in for Derek, became real. Derek and Stiles were going to be _fathers_. How incredible was that?

Derek lifted his head and gently shook Stiles' shoulder. "Baby, wake up." Stiles groaned but didn't open his eyes. Derek laughed and tried again, "Stiles, wake up. I promise you'll be happy that you did."

Stiles pried his eyes open and glared at Derek. "What do you want?" he said with a sleep-scratchy voice.

"I can hear the baby," Derek whispered.

Stiles' eyes widened and he pulled Derek up his body. "Really?! You can hear the heartbeat?" he said with awe. Derek nodded and ducked down to capture Stiles' lips for a moment. "That's so amazing! How does it sound?"

"Good, strong. "

"Just one, though, right?" Stiles said with a slightly nervous look on his face.

Derek chuckled. "Yes. There's only one in there."

"Good," Stiles said as he pulled Derek back down.

****

Derek was really enjoying Stiles pregnancy so far. Stiles hadn't experienced any morning sickness, fingers crossed that that continued, and his sex drive was through the roof, though he was taking more naps and he was having some minor mood swings. Derek tended to find them adorable.

Derek was cleaning out one of the spare rooms on the second floor of the house so that it could be converted into a nursery, when he smelled the salt of tears. Derek quickly left the spare room and descended the stairs to find out why Stiles would be crying.

Derek walked into the living room and found Stiles sitting on the floor with the tv on sobbing over a pile of mostly folded clothes. Derek couldn't find the source of Stiles distress so he walked over to Stiles and knelt next to him.

"Baby, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" He said as he pulled Stiles onto his lap and stroked his hair.

Stiles sniffled and tried to calm down. He held up a sock that Derek hadn't noticed he was holding and said, "I c-can't find the sock that m-matches this one."

Derek looked into Stiles stricken eyes, trying to understand why that would make Stiles cry. "Um... that's ok?"

"No, it's not! W-what if we n-never find the other? Then this s-sock will be alone forever!" Stiles said as tears streamed down his face. Stiles tucked his face into Derek's neck and let Derek rock him back and forth.

Derek did his best to suppress the laughter that threatened to burst from him, but he wasn't completely successful. "Maybe it dropped between the washer and dryer. Why don't I go look?"

Stiles nodded and let Derek get up. He walked to the laundry room and searched for the MIA sock, finding it tucked just where he'd told Stiles it might be. He hurried back to his slightly less upset mate and handed the sock to him with a smile. "See? The sock won't be mateless."

Stiles' smile was blinding when he folded the socks together and pulled Derek down for a kiss. They sat together on the floor for a few minutes before Stiles pulled back to look at Derek. "I'm sorry, that was pretty ridiculous, wasn't it?"

Derek wiped away tears from Stiles' cheeks. "Not at all. You never have to apologize for having emotions. You've got a lot of extra hormones running through your body now, it's normal to get upset over things you wouldn't normally."

Stiles sighted. "I just don't want you to get sick of me. I mean, I just had a breakdown over a sock!"

Derek chuckled and said, "I'll never get sick of you. And honestly, I thought that was pretty hilarious and adorable."

"Good. Because I feel like that isn't going to be the weirdest thing I cry over before this pregnancy is over."

Derek smiled and leaned against the couch as he pulled Stiles between his legs, placing his back against Derek's chest. This was quickly becoming one of Derek's favorite positions because he had complete access to Stiles' now slightly rounded belly.

A week and a half ago, Derek had woken up before Stiles to make him breakfast. He'd heard Stiles stirring while he was cooking the bacon. Just as he'd put the sizzling bacon on a plate, Stiles had come running into the kitchen in just his boxers and said, "Der, look! Look at my belly!"

Derek had looked at Stiles standing sideways so that Derek could see the beginnings of a baby bump with the biggest smile Derek had ever seen and excitement shining in his eyes. Derek had never seen Stiles so proud.

Derek had gone over and shared in Stiles joy, kneeling in front of him to spread kisses across his belly and telling the pup growing within his mate how loved he or she already was.

Derek had taken to positioning Stiles with his back to Derek's front every night in their bed while Stiles read or watched tv so that Derek could rub his mate's belly or just wrap his arms around Stiles' middle, just as he was doing now. Derek couldn't wait to hold his child in his arms, but until he could, he would touch Stiles' belly any chance he got. Thankfully, it seemed that Stiles enjoyed it just as much as Derek did.

********

Stiles was fast becoming frustrated as pair after pair of pants refused to button. For the last few weeks, his clothing had become increasingly snug, but he'd been putting off shopping for new clothes. Stiles _hated_ shopping, but, now that he was in his second trimester, he knew that his belly would start growing pretty quickly and he would need a new wardrobe.

Stiles sighed as he slipped into a pair of sweat pants and did his best to come to terms with the fact that he'd have to brave the mall today. The one good thing about this experience was going to be seeing Derek's new... possessiveness? Protectiveness? Stiles wasn't really sure what to call it. Derek had, of course, become more protective since their pup was conceived, but this was different. All he knew was that he liked it. _A lot_.

Since beginning to show, Stiles had apparently become public property, which he was not happy about. Seriously, what was the impulse a lot of people had to touch pregnant people? Why did growing a person suddenly mean that everyone and their mother could touch your belly?

The first time Derek's new instincts made themselves known, at least to Stiles, was when they were at the grocery store two weeks ago. Stiles was picking out Bananas while Derek was a few feet away looking at plums when a middle-aged woman came up cooing about Stiles' small baby bump. Stiles smiled at her and said he was eleven weeks in, and turned back to the bananas to subtly end the conversation, but apparently subtlety was lost on the woman.

She made a weird squealing sound at what Stiles had said and put both of her hands over Stiles' belly. Stiles had to fight with every muscle in his body not to slap her hands away and yell at her, but then he heard growling and he swung around to stare at his mate. Derek was standing just to Stiles' right with alpha red eyes and a look of sheer surprise on his face. Stiles saw a squished plum at Derek's feet and juice dripping from his hand.

They were all frozen, just staring at each other, before the woman laughed shakily and said she'd better get back to shopping. As soon as she left Derek had thrown himself at Stiles, scenting him all over with his hand placed protectively over their pup, and apologized profusely for doing that, said he didn't know what came over him.

Stiles had just smiled and said it was fine and there was no reason to apologize. It happened on other occasions and Stiles smiled every time. Derek always rushed them home and made love to him for hours, so he was totally fine with it. He knew it was just Derek's instincts to protect Stiles and their pup as well as those that made him dislike anyone touching him that way.

He didn't care if anyone touched Stiles' arm or back or anything else, but he couldn't control the urge to growl when someone touched Stiles' belly, unless it was one of Stiles' friends. He liked the love and attention Stiles got from his friends.

Derek spent a lot of time after the love making nuzzling Stiles' belly and whispering, "mine," into his skin. Stiles loved it.

Stiles walked out to the kitchen, seeing Derek there making them lunch, and said, "Der, we have to go shopping today. None of my pants fit and we should probably start gathering baby things."

Derek smiled. "I know you hate shopping, but I'm glad Peanut is growing so much."

Stiles sat at their kitchen table and looked at the back of Derek's head with questioning eyes. "Peanut?"

Derek froze in the middle of plating the grilled peanut butter, banana, and green apple sandwiches (they were pretty much the only thing Stiles wanted to eat for lunch lately). "Um... that's what I call the baby in my head sometimes," he said shyly.

Stiles grinned. "Oh my god, that's so adorable! We should totally call the baby Peanut. It's better than calling it "baby" or "pup" all the time. I always get frustrated that I can't even use a gender pronoun yet."

Derek turned around with a small smile on his lips. "You really like it?"

"Of course! You should have said something earlier." Stiles looked down at his belly and said, "You hear that, baby? You have a nickname, now. So until we choose a real name for you, you will be called Peanut."

Derek laughed and carried over their lunch. They ate quickly and got ready to leave for the mall.

Stiles was happy to see that the mall wasn't completely packed with people, and the maternity/paternity clothing store he chose only had a few customers, so that was even better.

Stiles asked Derek to pick out some larger shirts for him while he searched through the pants. He was looking through some jeans when he looked up to see Derek blushing like crazy with a cute old lady shamelessly flirting with him. Stiles laughed to himself and continued to look for his size. He considered going over there and saving Derek from the woman's advances, but he decided it was too hilarious and he could tease Derek about his new girlfriend later.

Stiles found his size and moved to look through the colored jeans selection and quickly found himself with company. He looked up into the eyes of a twenty-something man with dull brown eyes and duller brown, shaggy hair. He was smiling at Stiles in a rather creepy manner and Stiles did his best to keep in a sigh.

"Hey, there," Creepy Guy said.

"Hi," Stiles said without even looking up.

"I'm sorry, but I just had to come over here and tell you that you're really beautiful." Stiles was not a fan of this guy's voice, it was even creepier than the smile.

"Thanks." Stiles was determined to keep his eyes down and do nothing to encourage this guy to keep talking.

"I'm Jared, by the way. I don't see a ring, do you have a boyfriend? If not, we should totally get together some time. Actually, I really don't care if you have a boyfriend. I'd just really like to take you out."

Stiles stopped going through the pants and looks up at the guy. Maybe he didn't notice Stiles' bump? "Um, I'm pregnant, so you might want to find someone else."

Desire became apparent on Jared's face and his voice dropped when he said, "I know. I kind of have a... thing for pregnant guys."

Jared moved into Stiles' personal space and he felt his heartbeat go up a bit with fear. It's not that he was really afraid of this guy, but he was obviously off. Who walks up to a pregnant stranger and hits on them? Stiles could see the hard outline of Jared's cock in his pants and Stiles tried to back up but found he was blocked in by clothing racks.

Jared smiled again and leaned in more, moving to put an arm around Stiles. Stiles' heart was really beating fast now and his hands were sweaty. Just when Stiles felt a scream building in his throat, Jared was yanked away and Stiles was pulled into a solid chest while his ears filled with growls and snarls.

"Keep your hands off of my mate!" Stiles heard Derek say. Stiles relaxed against Derek and put his face in Derek's neck, breathing in his comforting scent and letting his mate take care of creepy Jared.

"Sorry, dude. I swear I didn't know he was here with anyone!"

"Maybe you should be more careful who you hit on in the future."

"Yeah, sure. Bye!"

Jared ran off and Derek pulled Stiles' head from his neck and looked him over frantically. "Are you ok? Did he touch you?"

Stiles put his hands over the ones Derek had placed on either side of Stiles' face and said, "I'm fine, babe. He just freaked me out a little. He was creepy and he got all up in my bubble, but I'm fine."

Derek closed his eyes and sighed. He pulled Stiles back into his body and kissed his head. "I'm sorry, I should have stayed with you. I will from now on."

"It's not your fault, Der. I asked you to find me shirts, but yeah, I'd prefer it if we stayed to together in the stores from now on." Stiles was a little ashamed that he was letting something so small get to him, but he was feeling vulnerable after that encounter, and he didn't like it.

Derek picked up the shirts he'd dropped when he grabbed Jared and took the pants Stiles had found. They found a few more clothing items, Stiles keeping one of his hands on his belly the entire time.

Stiles often found himself rubbing belly since learning he was pregnant, not realizing he'd started doing it in the first place, or just resting a hand there. Now though, the placement of Stiles' hand was very deliberate.

Jared had reminded Stiles of Kyle, which made Stiles feel like he needed to protect Peanut, protect his child from the evil the world had to offer.

Stiles smiled with the knowledge that he had a big bad alpha to take care of him and Peanut.


	9. Come A Little Closer Baby, I Feel Like Laying You Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (MTV owns everything)
> 
> Hello cupcakes! I said in the notes of the last chapter that I'd get another chapter up this weekend, and I actually did! Even if it is an hour before midnight on Sunday...
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy :)

Stiles was standing naked in his and Derek's bathroom marveling at the fact that he was now sixteen weeks pregnant. He stared at his reflection in the large mirror above the counter and sinks, slowly running his hands over his very noticeable bump. He couldn't even hide it with baggy clothes now, but he didn't mind. He took no issue with his changing form, even liked it.

After a few moments, he noticed Derek's reflection was also visible in the mirror. Derek was standing in the open doorway, looking at Stiles with so much love and desire it made Stiles' breath hitch.

Stiles turned around as Derek walked towards him, removing clothing as he went. Derek reached Stiles and placed his hands on either side of his belly before kissing Stiles with soft lips. Stiles wound his arms around Derek's neck and tilted his head to press his mouth more firmly against Derek's.

Derek moaned and picked up Stiles, setting him on the counter where he slotted himself between Stiles' legs and turned the kiss into something hungry and desperate.

Stiles wrapped his legs around Derek and pulled him closer, careful not to squish Peanut. Derek ground his hips forward, allowing Stiles to feel his hardness, and moved his lips down Stiles' jaw and neck, pausing to lick over the bite mark he found there, while Stiles gasped for breath.

"God, you look so amazing like this. So sexy. I don't know how I ever manage to keep my hands off you," Derek said as he nuzzled Stiles' neck and ran his hands over ever inch of Stiles' skin he could reach.

Stiles laughed a little breathlessly. "It is a wonder. I'm sure if we didn't have to go to work or go out into public, you wouldn't."

"You are absolutely right. Maybe we should just quit our jobs and stay in bed all the time."

Stiles smiled and pulled Derek down for another kiss. "You love your job and I enjoy mine. Now, why don't we move this party to the shower?"

"Gladly." Derek gently set Stiles back on his feet and turned the shower on. After it was warm enough, Derek led Stiles in by the hand and put them both under the spray.

Stiles sighed in contentedness as the heated water washed tension from his muscles and relieved a few small aches from sleeping in odd positions. After they were thoroughly soaked, Derek lifted Stiles' chin for more kisses, quickly moving from soft and sweet back to the desperation from before.

Stiles trailed one of his hands down Derek's chest and stomach to his rock-hard cock and gave it a few quick tugs. Derek moaned into his mouth and pressed Stiles' back against the shower wall, finding Stiles' wet hole and pushing a finger in.

Stiles felt a shiver travel up his spine and gave Derek a hard squeeze. Derek growled in a way that never failed to make Stiles' heart skip a beat and heat to pool in his stomach.

Stiles tore his mouth away and gasped out, "Fuck me, babe. Please. Need you inside me."

Derek flipped Stiles around and placed him so that his hands were against the wall and he was slightly bent forward. Derek palmed Stiles' ass, massaging the cheeks and then slipping fingers back into Stiles, three this time, to open him up further.

Derek didn't stop fingering Stiles until he was a shaking, pleading mess. Derek finally removed his fingers and pushed himself into Stiles' heat in one smooth thrust. Stiles groaned in relief and pleasure.

Derek waited a moment to allow Stiles to adjust, trailing kisses down Stiles' spine and rubbing circles on his hips with his thumbs.

"I'm good." Derek wrapped one arm around Stiles' belly and braced his other hand on the wall as he began moving in and out of Stiles. Stiles rocked back into each thrust, trying to get Derek to go faster, harder. Derek got the hint and ramped up his speed.

A particularly hard thrust had Stiles keening and Derek moaning. Derek reached down to jerk Stiles in time with his thrusts, sending Stiles hurtling towards the edge. Stiles shook as he felt his orgasm building and said, "So close, Der."

Derek's rhythm faltered, but then he started slamming into Stiles harder, wringing loud cries from Stiles and Derek grunted with each thrust. Stiles screamed when his climax hit, white-hot pleasure flowing through his body. He felt Derek thrust a few more times before he too fell over the edge and he felt Derek's cock pulsing within him.

Once they came down from their high, Derek turned Stiles around and pulled him against his body. Stiles was too tired to move, so Derek washed both of them, dried them, and carried Stiles to their bed.

Derek laid Stiles down on his side under the covers and slid in behind him, spreading kisses over Stiles' neck and the shoulder he had access to, as he held Stiles close and rubbed a hand lovingly over Stiles' belly.

"Are you sure you don't want us to quit our jobs? Then we could just stay here all day."

Stiles sighed, "It seems tempting right now, but yes, I'm sure. At least until Peanut comes. I think I'll want to stay home with him or her."

"I might want to, too. Or maybe I'll just shorten my hours."

"You still have plenty of time to decide. I'm taking a nap. Wake me up in half an hour?"

"Sure, baby."

********

Derek and Stiles were on their way to their midwife's office, and Derek felt like he was going to vibrate out of his skin. Stiles was eighteen weeks pregnant, and they were finally going to find out the sex of their pup.

"What do you want Peanut to be?" Stiles asked.

Derek reached over and placed a hand on Stiles' belly. "I don't know. I'd really like to have a girl and a boy at some point, but I have no preference on which order they come."

"What if we have a whole bunch of girls? Are you going to just keep getting me pregnant until we get a boy?

Derek chuckled and said, "Maybe. What do you want?"

Stiles rubbed a hand over his bump and thought for a minute. "I think I want a boy first, but of course I'll be happy no matter what Peanut's gender is, as long as he or she is healthy."

By the time they got in the exam room, Derek was fidgeting like crazy. He didn't know why he was so anxious, it wasn't like the midwife was going to tell them that they were having an octopus or something, especially since they've seen their growing child multiple times during scans.

"Der, I love you, but you're starting to make _me_ anxious. Calm down. It'll be fine."

Derek kissed Stiles' hand, which he had been holding since they go out of their car. "Sorry, baby. I'm just excited."

"I know, me too."

The midwife came in, went through the usual questions about symptoms, diet, energy levels, and the like, weighed Stiles, and then finally asked him to lie back on the exam table and lift his shirt.

Derek watched in awe, as he always did, when his child's image came up on the ultrasound machine. The sight made his heart speed up and moisture to gather in his eyes. Man, he was such a sap.

After a few minutes, the midwife said, "Everything looks good here. Do you guys want to know the sex?"

"Yes!" Derek and Stiles said maybe a little too loudly at the same time.

The midwife laughed and moved the wand around a little to get a better angle. "It looks like you're having... a little boy. Congratulations, guys,"

"A little boy. Look, Derek. That's our baby boy," Stiles said quietly and pointed at the screen.

"I see, baby. I hope he looks just like you." Derek leaned down and kissed Stiles hard on the lips before Stiles sat up, wiped the gel off of his belly, and pulled down his shirt.

The midwife sat at her desk and gestured for Derek and Stiles to sit across from her. "So, have you thought about a birthing plan yet?"

"No, I'm really trying not to think about the whole giving birth thing."

The midwife chuckled before saying, "I totally understand, it's pretty scary stuff, but it's something you should start thinking about. As a werewolf-human couple with the human being the pregnant one, you have a couple of options. The most popular option is a home birth, either using a tub or not, with only the couple present for the birth and the werewolf partner delivering the baby. As you get close to your due date, Derek will become extremely protective and possessive and probably won't handle even close friends and family touching you well. During the birth, whether you go with the home option or not, Derek will see anyone other than the two of you as a threat to his pup and will attack them. So, if you do choose to labor at home, do not invite anyone. They should be safe to come the day after, however."

"What if there are complications, though?" Stiles asked.

"Complications with werewolf babies are very rare, and the majority of them can be dealt with by the werewolf parent, their instincts will tell them what to do. You have the added bonus of having a mate who has medical training."

Stiles smiled and squeezed Derek's hand.

"The biggest drawback of the home birth is that you won't be able to use any kind of pain medication or get an epidural. If you do want that, you'll have to go with the other option, which is giving birth in the hospital. Unfortunately, choosing this option means that you would have to be in one of the hospitals Werewolf-Proof rooms and you would miss the birth, Derek. That's really the only way to keep you from attacking the hospital staff."

Derek did _not_ like the sound of that and he couldn't stop himself from growling quietly. Stiles rubbed his hand and said, "There's no way I'm giving birth without Derek. We'll go with the home option."

The midwife smiled. "Good. only about ten percent of couples choose the hospital, and it's usually because the couples are not actually together romantically and there is not enough trust between them for the pregnant person to be comfortable with the other delivering the child."

"I have complete trust in Derek. What's the tub thing?" Derek had been wondering the same thing.

"It's a blowup tub, which comes in a few sizes, that is filled with warm water and has handholds as well as a ledge for sitting. The tub allows laboring men and women the ability to move around and be in positions that may not be possible on a bed, making it easier for one to find a comfortable position. The water also helps relieve some pain because the heat of the water helps sooth muscles and the water allows you to not feel the full weight of your belly, which contributes to a lot of back pain. The water also allows greater stretching of the skin and far fewer cases of tearing are reported with tub births."

Derek felt Stiles shiver slightly at the mention of tearing. Derek understood, that did not sound like fun.

"You don't have to make any decisions about that today. You guys can do some research and talk about things and then let me know what you want to do later. Regardless of what you decide, I will come to your house the day after the birth to bring you a birth certificate and some other documents and to check the baby over."

Derek and Stiles thanked the midwife and went home, cuddling on the couch with a movie on when they arrived. Derek was so happy to finally know the gender of his pup. They could finally start decorating the nursery.

About halfway through the movie, Stiles sat up and said, "Oh my god, I have the best idea!"

"What?"

"We should name this baby Bruce and the next one Robin! Robin is a unisex name, so it won't matter what gender the baby is!"

"Stiles, we are not naming our children after comic book characters."

"But Der, it would be so awesome!" Stiles said with a pout.

"I love you, but no."

"Fine, just shatter my dreams." Derek laughed and nuzzled Stiles neck.

Derek dreamed about a tiny boy with Stiles' eyes that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... there's gonna be an ass baby. I know a lot of people don't like that, but I'm going that way for a few reasons. For one thing, in the universe of my story, carrier men can naturally get pregnant. To me, that means that there has to be natural way for the birth to occur, which is why I didn't go with c-section being the only way for a man to give birth. I did toy with the idea of giving carrier men some extra stuff in their nether regions, but I ended up being too lazy for to come up with something... I won't be offended if some of you skip the birth scene (yes, there will be one).


	10. There's A Bad Moon On The Rise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (MTV owns everything)
> 
> Hello cupcakes! I really meant to get this chapter up yesterday, but I was having a little trouble with it. I got it the way I wanted it, though, so here it is for you guys to read!
> 
> Enjoy :)

Stiles had been tossing and turning - as much as his belly would allow, anyway, now that he was thirty two weeks pregnant and officially in the big-going-on-humongous category - for the better part of three hours while trying to sooth the energetic child taking up residence in his womb, and he just wanted to sleep. He had work in the morning, and shifts were already pretty exhausting for him without having to work on no sleep.

Stiles turned towards Derek and shook his shoulder. "Der, wake up."

"What's wrong, baby?" Derek said in a sleep-scratchy voice as he pried his eyes open.

"Your son won't stop doing gymnastics in my belly and I can't sleep," Stiles whined. Yeah, occasionally Stiles got a little whiny. Sue him.

Derek chuckled and kissed Stiles' forehead before sliding down so that his face was right next to Stiles' belly. Derek lifted Stiles' sleep shirt, nuzzled the skin near his belly button, rubbed his hands over the curved flesh and said, "Hey, Peanut, it's your daddy. I'm sure you're having a lot of fun dancing around in there, but your papa's really tired and he needs to sleep. He works really hard to keep you safe and warm, so you should be nice to him and settle down."

Derek continued to whisper to his pup until he felt Peanut stop moving around and his tiny heartbeat slowed just enough to indicate that he was asleep. "Love you, Peanut." Derek kissed Stiles' belly and slid back up the mattress to pull Stiles into his arms.

Stiles sighed and relaxed into Derek's body. "Thank you. Dang kid only listens to you."

Derek smiled. "He knows who his alpha is. And he's just so happy inside you that he can't help but wiggle around."

Stiles snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure that's it." Stiles _finally_ fell asleep and didn't wake until his alarm sounded.

Stiles found a note on Derek's pillow - he'd gotten up at 5 AM for his shift at the hospital - that made Stiles' outlook on the morning much brighter. He showered quickly, had some breakfast, and headed to the diner. Allison arrived just behind Stiles, so they walked in together, chatting about random things. They clocked in and got to work dealing with the breakfast rush.

Once things quieted down, Stiles took his lunch break at the counter while Allison cleaned and refilled salt and pepper shakers. "So, how are you feeling?" Allison asked Stiles.

Stiles sat back from his food and rubbed his hands over his belly. "Good, but my feet, back, and pelvic area are usually pretty sore after shifts. I'm glad this will be my last shift."

"I bet. I really hope I'm not still working here when I get pregnant. But I don't plan on doing that for years anyway."

"Before I met Derek, I would have laughed and said they were crazy if someone told me I'd be mated or married and pregnant before I was 25. I was planning on waiting until I was at least 30 to have a kid, but after Derek and I completed our mating, things changed." Stiles looked down at his belly and smiled, feeling his son turn inside him. "And I'm so glad that they did."

"Yeah, well, I doubt I'll be finding a sexy-as-hell alpha werewolf to sweep me off my feet, so my plans probably won't be changing."

"You never know."

Allison's smile become shy. "Can I- can I feel him?"

Usually, Stiles hated it when people touched his belly, but Allison had become a really good friend and she'd asked instead of just doing it, so he didn't mind it. Stiles smiled at her and nodded. He turned in his chair, took her hand, and moved it to where he could feel a tiny foot or elbow poking him.

"Wow. That's... amazing," Allison said with awe. She stepped back and continued her refilling job. "Maybe I will change my plans."

"You'll have to come see us after he's born."

"I would love to! And I definitely want to babysit," Allison said excitedly.

"That would be great! Although, I'm pretty sure it's going to be nearly impossible to get Derek away from Peanut long enough to need a babysitter for quite a while. He's really excited, plus werewolves tend to be pretty possessive of their pups when they're young."

Stiles was exhausted by the time he returned home and decided he would take a nice, long nap once he made it inside the house. Derek was working a double shift today, so he'd be home late, which gave Stiles plenty of time to sleep before he made dinner.

Stiles parked his Jeep in the garage, walked into the house, and hung his keys up in the laundry room. Just as he walked through the doorway into the living room, he felt a sharp prick in his neck before everything went black.

********

"Good morning, Derek!" a very chipper Erica practically shouted at Derek when he walked into the locker room at 5:45 AM. It was far too early in the morning to be this excited, if you asked Derek.

"Morning, Erica. How was your day off?" Derek asked as he removed his street clothes to slip into his scrubs.

"It was great! I went to the beach with Tom, the guy I was telling you about the other day. I'm going out with him again on Thursday," she said, grinning the whole time. "How's Stiles doing? Sick of being pregnant yet?"

Derek smiled down at the shoes he was tying. "He's doing really well. He actually really seems to enjoy it, except when the pup keeps him up at night. He is starting to wonder how much bigger he can get, though," Derek said, laughing at the end.

"He's still got about two months left, right?" Derek nodded. "Quite a bit bigger, then. But I bet you don't mind at all."

"Nope," he said with a grin.

Derek was having a rough day. He worked in an ER, so he was pretty used to seeing unusual, gruesome, and even heartbreaking injuries, but today, the universe seemed to be out to scare the shit out of Derek. He wasn't even halfway through his double shift and he'd already seen two women come in because of miscarriages, one man with a severe placental abruption, and another woman who went into preterm labor.

Every time a pregnant person came into the ER, Derek's heart clenched painfully in his chest and he had to tamp down on the urge to call Stiles right away to make sure he and Peanut were ok.

During one of the slow periods, Erica noticed Derek was tense and asked if he was alright.

Derek sighed and rubbed a hand over his face before answering. "It's just been a really long day and I have a bad feeling."

"What do you mean?"

"There's been a lot of pregnant patients today and it's just freaking me out, making me feel like something isn't right, even though I have no real reason to feel that way."

Erica came over and rubbed his upper arm in a comforting manner. "I'm sure everything's fine, Derek. Stiles has had an incredibly smooth pregnancy, there's no reason to get yourself worked up."

"I know. It's just a crappy day and I'll feel a lot better when I'm home with Stiles in my arms."

Derek spent the rest of his shift sneaking glances at his watch and wishing time would speed up. He heaved a sigh of relief when he finally left the hospital and he might have driven home faster than was strictly legal.

He pulled in the garage, smiling when he saw Stiles' Jeep, and hurried into the house.

"Baby, I'm home!" he called into the house. He didn't hear a reply, so he hung up his keys, removed his shoes, and walked further into the house.

"Stiles? Where are you?" The house was completely silent. _Maybe Stiles is taking a nap_ he thought. Derek walked to their bedroom, but didn't find Stiles there. Now, he was starting to get a little panicked.

After he searched the rest of the house with no luck, he pulled out his cellphone and called Stiles' phone. Derek heard Stiles' ringtone coming from the laundry room. Derek walked there and found the phone sitting on the washing machine.

The sliver of panic he'd been feeling earlier grew quickly, filling his chest with ice. His breathing turned erratic and his vision blurred a bit. He tried to tell himself that maybe Stiles was just out for a walk or with a friend, but he knew that Stiles wouldn't go anywhere without his phone.

Derek picked up Stiles' phone and went through his address book, hitting Scott's name.

Derek fidgeted, feeling like his skin was too tight, as the phone rang.

" _Hey, buddy. What's up?_ " Scott asked when he picked up, obviously having seen the caller ID.

"Scott, it's Derek, have you seen or heard from Stiles today?" Derek asked with thinly veiled alarm.

" _No. Why, is everything ok?_ "

"He was supposed to be at home when I got back from work, but he's not here."

" _And you have his phone... This can't be good_ _. Can't you feel where he is, or something? Isn't that part of the mate bond thing?_

Derek had completely forgotten about that! He hadn't felt anything from Stiles in terms of fear or distress, so the perks that came with a completed mate bond slipped his mind. "Yeah, but it takes a lot of concentration and I can't just come up with his location, I can only get a feeling of a direction."

" _Then you sit down and get yourself as calm as possible so you can listen to your instincts, or whatever, and I'll call the gang and have them search wherever we can think to look._ "

While Scott was talking, Derek had caught the faintest scent of something that did not belong, some _one_ that did not belong. " _Derek? Are you there?_ "

"Kyle. Kyle has him."

" _WHAT?! Are you sure?_ "

"Yes, I just got a small whiff of him. He must have used some kind of scent blocking wash, or I would have smelled him right away."

Scott growled in a very werewolf-like fashion. " _Do me a favor when you find them, kill the fucker._ "

Derek's eyes shone alpha red and a growl vibrated through his chest. "I will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back (back, back), back again (gain, gain).....


	11. Way Up High, Or Down Low, I'll Go Wherever You Will Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (MTV owns everything)
> 
> I'm so sorry for the wait guys!! I had vacation, work, preparing to move, etc. and I just haven't had the energy to write. I promise the next chapter will come quicker.
> 
> This one was rough for me emotionally, hopefully you guys will feel what I was feeling while writing! Enjoy!!

Stiles felt groggy and achy when he finally found his way to consciousness. He began burrowing further into the covers, but stopped when he realized the scratchy and odd smelling sheets were not his. Stiles' eyes snapped open and he bolted up only to groan in pain and hold his head when the too bright sunlight streaming in through a window to his left hit his eyes and his muscles and joints protested the quick movement.

Stiles opened his eyes again, slowly this time, to take in his surroundings. He was in a small bedroom with only a bed and nightstand that he'd never seen before. The walls let Stiles know he was in a log cabin.

He then took stock of his body, searching for injuries. All limbs were accounted for and nothing was bleeding, though his head was pounding. Stiles felt a tiny limb poke him in the side and brought his hands to his belly, rubbing it and whispering, "It's ok, Peanut. Daddy will find us and bring us home."

Just as Stiles decided it was time he tried the bedroom door, it banged open and Stiles' worst nightmare walked through it. Kyle smiled at him and said, "Morning, sleepy head. I was wondering when you'd wake up."

Stiles wracked his brain, trying to remember what had lead to this moment, how he'd arrived here, but could only remember walking into his house after working at the diner and then feeling a sharp pain his neck. The next thing he remembered was waking up in the strange room. Stiles realized that the pain he'd felt had been a needle, meaning Kyle had drugged him.

"What did you give me, Kyle?!" Stiles shouted, feeling fear spike through his veins. Stiles was heavily pregnant, and many drugs had adverse effects on fetuses and could even kill them. Stiles could hardly breath thinking about the possibility that Peanut would be taken from him. True, Stiles had felt his baby move, but that doesn't mean something couldn't happen in the next few hours. The drug was still in his system after all.

Kyle sneered at him. "No need to worry about the little mutt. The sedative I used is quite safe." Stiles relaxed a bit, but tensed again as Kyle moved closer to him. Stiles wrapped his arms more snugly around his belly in a vain attempt to protect his child from the man standing over him.

"What do you want?" Stiles whispered, shrinking back against the headboard.

Kyle eyed him up and down, letting the silence stretch out for an uncomfortable length of time before he brought his eyes back to Stiles'. "You, of course."

"Why? We haven't been together for more than a year and a half. Why do you suddenly want me so much you had to kidnap me?"

"I've always wanted you, Stiles, but I had to wait for the right time. I had to make sure that animal of yours thought I was really gone. I checked on you every couple of months, watching from a distance, of course. I was planning to make my move earlier, but when I went to put my plan in motion, I saw that you were pregnant. At first, I was angry. How could you bare that disgusting animal's child? You're mine! That should have been my child growing in your belly!"

Kyle had begun his explanation very calmly, but by the last few sentences, he was red-faced and nearly shouting. Kyle stopped speaking for a few moments, breathing deeply and collecting himself. He was calm when he began speaking again.

"I calmed down after a while and realized that I could deal with this. The wolf kid proves that you're fertile and having a birth under your belt will make the birth of our children easier, since you'll know what to expect and your body will be experienced in it. We never talked about having children before, so I didn't know that you wanted them. But now that I know, I can give you what you want. We can live in this secluded cabin and you can give me lots of children."

Stiles looked at him in confusion. Did Kyle really think that this was what he wanted? That the prospect of being his baby factory and living out in the middle of nowhere would make him happy and want to stay with him? "Kyle, what I want is to go home, back to my mate," Stiles said slowly.

"NO!" Kyle screamed and threw the lamp sitting on the bedside table against the far wall. Stiles jumped off the bed and scurried into the corner farthest from Kyle, keeping his arms firmly around his belly. Stiles watched with wide eyes as Kyle panted with rage. Then, he suddenly straightened and calmed again. "You're not going anywhere, Stiles. There's no way your wolf will ever find us way out here in the middle of the mountains. I made sure there's no trail for him to follow and nothing tying me to this place."

Stiles realized that Kyle didn't know the mate bond would allow Derek to find him, and he definitely wasn't going to let him in on the secret. Who knew what Kyle would do if he knew? Stiles certainly didn't want to find out.

Kyle walked over to Stiles and looked lovingly into his eyes. Stiles felt sick. "You're mine, Stiles, and you always will be." Kyle reached up to cup Stiles' cheek and Stiles tried to flinch away, but Kyle gripped his face and said, "You'll forget about him. You'll be happy with me again."

"What about my baby?" Stiles knew that Derek would come for him, but he needed to know. Kyle was obviously even farther off his rocker than Stiles had previously thought, and there was a possibility that he would do something to Peanut before Derek could get to them.

Kyle's eyes darkened with anger, but he kept his voice light as he spoke. "I briefly considered cutting the thing out of you as soon as we got here, but I changed my mind. I need your uterus in working order, and as I'm not a doctor and have never done a c-section, I could irreparably damage it. So I decided it would be best to just induce labor early with some oxytocin I stole and let you give birth. Then, I'll leave it in the woods a few miles from the cabin."

Stiles stared at Kyle in horror. Was he serious? Would he actually leave an innocent baby, _Stiles'_ innocent baby, out in the middle of the woods for wild animals or the cold to get? Stiles' legs felt like they might give out. "H-How could you do that? This is my _child_! I won't let you do that!"

Kyle slammed his hand on the wall next to Stiles' head, making Stiles' flinch back as much as he could with his back already against the wall, and moved his face so close to Stiles', their noses almost touched. "I can do anything I want, _sweetheart_. You're lucky I don't plan to gut the mutt in front of you right after it's born! You better behave, or I might change my mind about that," Kyle practically growled at Stiles.

Kyle pushed off the wall and stormed out of the room, yelling over his shoulder, "Get out here. I made dinner."

Stiles' entire body was shaking and his legs just wouldn't hold him up anymore. He slid slowly down the wall and cradled his belly on the floor. His heart was going a mile a minute and his breathing was erratic. Stiles knew he needed to calm down, needed to keep himself together. He needed to stall Kyle in his plan to induce labor as long as possible so that Derek could find them, but he couldn't do that if he was frozen in fear or dealing with panic attacks. He had no idea where Kyle had taken him, how far they were from Stiles' home, so he didn't know how long it would take for Derek to get to them. He also knew that high stress levels could trigger labor, which he _definitely_ didn't want.

Stiles closed his eyes and took deep breaths until he felt his heart beat slow and his lungs weren't on fire anymore. He stood up and followed Kyle out to the small kitchen/dining room on shaky legs. He was silent through dinner, not really tasting the dry chicken and overcooked broccoli, and prayed for Derek to find them soon.

********

Derek had been driving for hours and he felt like he'd touched an electric fence. He was shaking with adrenaline, his knuckles were white from his grip on the steering wheel, and he was more anxious than he'd ever been in his life. His mind was filled with all kinds of scary scenarios, of what could be happening to his mate and child while he searched for them.

He knew Stiles was alive, he would have felt their bond being severed if he wasn't, and he also knew that Stiles was scared, or at least had been. He'd felt a spike of panic about an hour earlier, but he had calmed himself enough that Derek couldn't really feel anything through their bond. Derek hoped that was because Stiles wasn't in any immediate danger and not because he was unconscious or drugged.

Derek had wanted to run, instead of drive, when he bolted from the house to begin his frantic search. He would have been able to run straight in the direction he felt Stiles instead of following roads, but then he'd realized that getting home after he found Stiles would be a problem. He couldn't run as he carried Stiles, it would jostle his fragile pup too much, and he certainly couldn't make his heavily pregnant mate _walk_ home. He had no idea how far they would be from home, so even walking while carrying Stiles wasn't a practical idea. He also would be in total protective and possessive mode, and being in a vehicle would be much better than being out in the open.

When Derek finally started to feel like he was getting close to Stiles, he was out in the middle of nowhere at about 3:00 in the morning. Windy roads surrounded by trees had led him to a valley between the mountains, and eventually, a small cabin came into view. Derek knew this was it, this was where Kyle had Stiles.

Derek slammed on his breaks and parked behind some tall bushes, wanting to keep Kyle in the dark about his arrival until it was too late to even attempt an escape. Not that Derek thought Kyle could outrun him, but Derek didn't want to chase Kyle. He wanted to rip him to shreds in the place he thought he was safe.

Derek crept up to the house and looked in through one of the windows. It was a spacious living room with a few mismatched couches, but no Stiles or Kyle. Derek moved to another window and found himself looking into a small bedroom. Stiles was tied to the bed and trying to fight free while Kyle looked like he was trying to attach something to Stiles' arm. Derek's eyes glowed red and he released a ground shaking howl, letting his prey know that he was about to be caught.

He saw Kyle freeze and drop the needle he was holding and Stiles yelled for Derek. Kyle was only frozen for a moment before he bolted from the bedroom. Derek growled and used his superior strength to rip the front door from its hinges, wood splinters spraying across the living room.

Kyle was looking around wildly, like Derek wasn't blocking the only door and he might find one hidden in one of the house's corners. Derek could hear Stiles' and Peanut's heartbeats in the bedroom, but didn't move to them yet. He had blood to spill first.

Derek stalked toward Kyle, a steady growl rumbling from his chest as he vibrated with rage. Kyle made a strangled squealing sound and fell to his knees, pleas for his life spilling from his mouth.

Derek face twisted into a disgusted grimace. "Do you honestly think I'd let you live after you kidnapped my mate and unborn child?! I told you once that I'd kill you if I ever saw you again, and I meant it."

Kyle tried to lunge out of Derek's grasp, but Derek was too fast. Derek pinned Kyle to the floor, letting him struggle for a moment and enjoying the knowledge that no matter how much Kyle struggled, he would not escape. Kyle screamed as he saw Derek's teeth get longer and sharper. The scream became a loud gurgling before cutting off completely and Derek howled in victory with Kyle's blood hot in his mouth. In the next moment, Derek was in the bedroom with a newly freed Stiles filling his arms.

Derek whined as he checked Stiles over for injuries, scenting him and kissing any part of skin he could reach. Stiles lowered them to the ground, climbing into Derek's lap, and whispering comforting things as he rubbed Derek's back.

"It's ok, Der. We're safe. We're ok," Stiles murmured he brought one of Derek's searching hands to his belly. Derek could feel their son moving around like crazy between them, something he usually enjoyed immensely, but now it felt like the only thing keeping him breathing. Derek didn't know what he would have done if he'd lost Peanut. He did know that he would have followed Stiles to the grave if he'd lost them both.

The thought had Derek whining loudly again and attacking Stiles' lips. Stiles kissed back just as forcefully, feeling Derek's frantic need. Derek picked Stiles up and carried him to the bed in the cabin's small bedroom, carefully depositing him on the bed before quickly divesting them both of their clothing.

Derek came back to Stiles' mouth for a moment, letting his hands roam over the warm body beneath him, before sliding down to trail kisses down Stiles' belly as he opened Stiles with his fingers. Derek didn't spend long prepping Stiles, didn't have the patience, and then positioned Stiles onto his hands and knees, placing a pillow beneath his belly for support, before sliding quickly into his mate's tight passage.

They both groaned as Derek set a fast pace, not caring much for drawing it out or using any kind of finesse. This wasn't about sex, or even pleasure, it was about their need to be as close as possible, to reaffirm their claim on each other.

In a few short minutes, Derek was shaking with his mounting orgasm, the moans coming from Stiles letting Derek know he was close as well. With one final snap of his hips, Derek sank his teeth into Stiles' mate bite, screaming around the flesh as the force of his orgasm shattered him into a million pieces. Dimly, he heard Stiles' yelling something through his own climax, but Derek was too focused on not crushing Stiles beneath him as the energy drained from his limbs too focus on the words.

Derek pulled out and fell to his back, pulling Stiles to lie down with his head on Derek's shoulder and wrapped his arms around him. They panted for a few minutes and just held each other. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get to you," Derek said with a shaky voice.

Stiles leaned up on his elbow to stare down into Derek's eyes. "Don't. I know you got here as fast as you could and you made it before anything happened."

"But I shouldn't have let you be taken in the first place! I should have been with you."

"You can't be with me every second, babe. And we had no idea Kyle was that crazy. I mean, I knew he was messed up, but we went so long without even a glimpse of him. We had no way of knowing he'd do something like this."

Derek closed his eyes to the intense guilt he felt. He'd failed Stiles and their pup, had let them be put in danger, and now he was questioning his ability to be a good mate and father.

"Derek, look at me." Stiles waited until Derek opened his eyes and looked into Stiles'. "This was not your fault. You have nothing to feel guilty about. You _saved_ me and Peanut. When you got here, Kyle was about to pump a labor inducing drug into my system, and once Peanut was born, he was going to leave him out in the middle of the forest." That had Derek snarling and his eyes flashing red. "That's how I felt when he said it, but you kept if from happening."

Stiles sat all the way up and pulled one of Derek's hands to his belly. "Feel how much he's moving around? He hasn't stopped since you howled outside. When i woke up here, he moved a little, but as soon as Kyle walked in, Peanut became completely still and didn't move again until he heard you. He knew you came for us. He loves you."

Derek's eyes filled with tears as he listened to Stiles and felt their son moving beneath his skin. He leaned up to kiss Stiles' belly and nuzzle the soft skin. "I love you, Peanut," Derek whispered before sitting up and kissing Stiles again. "And I love you, Stiles. You two are everything to me."

Stiles leaned his forehead against Derek's and smiled. "I know, babe. You're everything to us, too."


	12. Love Is the Light Scaring Darkness Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my cupcakes.... Soooo, it's been a while. And I'm super sorry about that. I feel horrible! But, okay, here's what happened. A few days after I posted chapter 11, something went crazy with my account and I couldn't log in. I tried a million times, tried for like two weeks, and then I was just so frustrated that I didn't even come to Archive of Our Own to read anything for months. Then, like two weeks ago, I had a dream that reminded me of one of my favorite fics on here and I decided to give signing in another shot. Success! But then I'd been away from writing for so long that it took me a bit to get motivated to write again. Writing this chapter felt super weird, but really awesome too, and I'm glad to be back. I promised I would see this to the end, and that's my plan. We're pretty close to the end of this one, anyway!
> 
> To anyone who was following my other fic, "This Wasn't In the Pamphlet", way back when, I also plan to get back to writing that one. I'm having trouble getting restarted on that one, though, so it may be a couple of weeks. I don't want to churn out a chapter just to do it, I want to make sure it's right for the story.
> 
> So, without further ado, a new chapter (finally)!!!
> 
> (MTV owns everything)

The sun was just peeking over the mountains when Derek finally felt satisfied in his work. He'd spent hours preparing the little cabin, making it look like disaster of nature, rather than murder. First things first, Derek had ripped Kyle's body into chunks, making it look like he'd been torn apart by actual wolves or some other large carnivore. Derek totally didn't enjoy that part, and definitely didn't get a little too enthusiastic during the process, and wasn't satisfied at all when he was finished... Okay, maybe just a little. But he had good reason! The guy had tried to destroy his family, and he wasn't going to be sorry for what he'd done.

Once he'd finished with Kyle's body, he'd made scratches in the hard wood flooring, torn up the furniture, and generally made the place look like a pack of wild animals had gone berserk inside the tiny cabin.

Stiles had spent the time getting a little sleep, and then calling his friends to let them know he and the Peanut were fine and coming home soon.

"You ready, babe?" Stiles asked as he stepped up behind Derek, taking hold of his hand and giving it a light squeeze.

"Yeah, let's get out of here," Derek replied. He'd been awake all night, but he wasn't tired. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to sleep again, too much adrenaline still pumping through his veins. It really couldn't be healthy. Derek helped Stiles into the passenger seat, got him buckled in, gave Stiles a deep kiss, and kissed his belly before getting into the driver's seat and high-tailing it out of there. Stiles grabbed his hand once they were back on an actual road. They spent most of the trip in silence, not needing words, just reveling in the fact that they were all there, together, and alive.

Derek heard Stiles let out a sigh of relief and felt his body relaxed when they finally pulled into their driveway. He could imagine how happy Stiles would be to be home.

They had seen the cars on the street outside their house, and so knew they'd find all of Stiles friends there when they got inside. As soon as the vehicle was in park, Stiles was out and running - as close to running as he could do at this point, anyway - into the house. Derek got out more slowly, letting Stiles and his friends have a few moments, even though every instinct in his body was screaming at him that he shouldn't be letting Stiles out of his sight, should never let him leave it again.

He heard the shouts of joy, the sobs of relief, and couldn't help but tear up a bit himself. He'd been so close to losing everything, but he didn't want to think about that now, he wanted to be with his mate and child.

When Derek entered their living room, he found everyone on the floor, Stiles in the middle, all laying together, whispering to one another, touching Stiles and his bump. The sight made Derek's heart warm in his chest. He made his way over to the pile of bodies and nudging his way in behind Stiles. He just needed to be touching Stiles now, and he wasn't planning on letting go for quite a while.

"What was he going to do with the baby, did he say?" Lydia asked, ever the curious mind.

Stiles tensed a bit, but relaxed when Derek nuzzled his neck and laid his head on his shoulder to breathe in his scent. "He was going to give me a drug that would induce labor and then leave Peanut out in the woods once he was born," he said quietly, rubbing circles over his belly. Thinking about it again made panic spike for a moment, but a gentle kick from his son brought him back to the present, calmed him.

Derek heard gasps all around and then felt as everyone inched closer.

"He's gone now though, right? He can't hurt you or the baby anymore. No one will ever try to hurt our Peanut again," Scott said with vehemence.

Stiles smiled at Scott's words. "Yeah, Scottie. He's gone."

Scott nodded and laid his head on Stiles' belly and Stiles carded his fingers through his hair.

"Can we stay here tonight?" Jackson asked shyly from his spot to Stiles' right.

"Der?" Stiles said, asking what he thought.

Derek wasn't ready to lift his head from Stiles neck, so his answer was slightly muffled, but he knew they'd hear. "Of course. We have a couple of air mattresses in one of the upstairs closets and a bunch of blankets. We'll make a big nest here in the living room and we can just stay here and watch movies all day."

"Sounds good, babe," Stiles said with a smile in his voice.

********

When Stiles couldn't hold his bladder any longer, the group dispersed to get the living room set up and make food. Stiles waddled to the bathroom, Derek following close behind, he sighed as the pressure in his bladder was finally released and then looked up at Derek, who had, apparently, followed him into the bathroom. "Feeling a little clingy?" he asked. Not that he minded, just wanted to know if this was going to be a thing from now on.

Derek swallowed hard and nodded, his eyes downcast like he was ashamed of something.

Stiles flushed, washed his hands and walked up to Derek, sliding into his arms. "Der, look at me," he whispered. After a moment, Derek lifted his face and looked into Stiles' eyes. "There you are. Now, what's wrong, babe? Why do you look ashamed?"

"Because I am ashamed. I didn't protect you, and I'm afraid of what you think of me after seeing me tear Kyle apart like that. Do you think I'm a monster?" Derek asked with growing distress.

"No! Of course I don't think you're a monster! You saved me and our pup, you did what you needed to. I will never blame you for what happened and I certainly won't think badly of you for protecting our family. We talked about this remember?"

"Yeah, but now you've had hours to process everything, and I thought maybe you'd feel differently now."

"Well, I don't. I love you, Peanut loves you, and I couldn't be happier that Kyle is gone. So, thank you." Stiles kissed Derek, letting him feel everything he couldn't convey with words and then pressed his forehead to Derek's.

Derek let out a breath slowly and brought his hand up to rub the side of Stiles' belly. "This kid has a pretty awesome family waiting for us in the living room."

Stiles smiled brightly. "Yeah, they're pretty great. Just think of all the free babysitting!"

Derek chuckled and started to lead Stiles out of the bathroom by the hand. "I'm pretty sure I won't be able to leave Peanut for quite a while after he's born with everything that's happened.

"I know, but you'll have to at some point, babe. I hate to tell you, but there's no way you're never taking me out on dates again. Plus, we might have to pawn this one off on someone else if we ever want time to make another one."

Derek's laugh was bright and sent tingles down Stiles' spine. "I'm sure we'll find the time. We just might never sleep again."

"Works for me," Stiles said with a grin.

The living room looked like a totally different place now that it had been converted into a den of sorts. The coffee table had been pushed out of the way, making room for the crazy pile of air mattresses, blankets, and pillows, and the couches had been moved to create a border of sorts around the air mattresses so everyone had something to lean against. Bowls and plates of food sat in front of the mattresses and on the couches.

"Your spot is right here, Stiles! Kira called happily from the middle, patting a spot in front of a mountain of pillows. Derek helped Stiles step up and lower himself carefully to the indicated spot. Derek was then pulled down behind him so that Stiles could lean against his chest. Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles, one hand resting on top of the swell of Stiles' belly, the other rubbing soothing circles into Stiles' skin.

"So, what are we watching today?" Stiles asked as everyone piled into the nest and all found places that allowed them to have some sort of contact with Stiles. It was a little odd, to be honest, but Stiles got it. They had come close to losing him and Peanut, and they were his family, so he'd happily let them invade his space for as long as they needed. It was comforting, and Peanut seemed to like it.

"We thought we'd start with the Lord of the Rings series, then do Star War. Sound good?" came from Danny.

"Sounds awesome!"

The rest of the day was spent watching movies, eating an interesting assortment of snack foods, and enjoying being close to all of the people he loved. Derek had been right, Peanut had a pretty amazing family.


End file.
